Has British jobless rate hit decade high?

Britain's official unemployment rate hit the highest level for about 10 years on Wednesday, as experts warned more job cuts would come as the recession deepens.

Although the figures were not so bad as some experts had expected, falling short of the symbolic two million barrier, analysts warned that the figure could hit 3.5 million by the end of next year as the effects of the slowdown filter through.

Protests fuelled by the rising threat of unemployment -- underlined by almost daily job cut announcements -- have snowballed in recent weeks, including a new power plant walkout on Wednesday following wildcat strikes last week.

The percentage of Britons out of work jumped to 1.97 million or 6.3 percent in the three months to December, a rise of 0.2 percent, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"For every person who is made unemployed, there is a sadness and sorrow and we will do what we can to help people back to work as quickly as possible," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after the figures came out.

His official spokesman told reporters: "Every job loss is obviously a matter of regret and disappointment."

Brown met 22 business leaders from some of Britain's biggest companies like supermarket chain Tesco and energy firm Centrica at his Downing Street office Wednesday to discuss getting more people into work.

But some observers warned the picture on unemployment looked set to get worse.

The general secretary of the TUC (Trades Union Congress) Brendan Barber said the situation was a "national emergency", adding: "This is another set of dreadful figures and we fear worse is still to come."

Vicky Redwood, an analyst from research consultancy Capital Economics, said the figures did not fully reflect the effects of a major contraction in the fourth quarter of 2008.

"We still think unemployment will reach 3.5 million by the end of 2010," she added.

Unemployment in Britain is lower than in some other European countries -- Germany, Europe's largest economy, has 8.3 percent unemployment and the figure in France stands at around eight percent.

But the global downturn looks set to hit Britain harder than its European neighbours -- the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) said last month that it would suffer worse than any other developed country.

Official figures last month confirmed that Britain was now in recession, while Brown last week used the word "depression" to describe the situation.

Education Secretary Ed Balls, Brown's former economic advisor and one of his closest allies, said this week Britain was facing the worst recession for 100 years.

New job cuts have hit the headlines almost daily in recent weeks -- carmakers like Bentley, Nissan and Jaguar have announced major cuts along with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is now majority state-owned.

Workers at London Underground were due to stage a demonstration Wednesday against what unions say are plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs on top of 1,000 already announced.

Meanwhile, hundreds of construction staff at the Staythorpe power station in central England walked out Wednesday after being told they faced disciplinary action if they joined a protest over the use of foreign contractors.

Last week, thousands of workers around Britain joined wildcat strikes on the issue.

Wednesday's unemployment figures were calculated using the International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure of unemployment.

Agencies