LONDON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain on Tuesday reported the biggest quarterly hike in the country's unemployment figures since 2009 as 220,000 fewer people were on the payroll in the second quarter compared with the previous one, official statistics showed on Tuesday.
The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) came as Britain is expected to confirm it is officially in recession -- two consecutive quarters of economic contraction -- the first since the financial crisis in 2008.
Estimates for April to June showed 32.92 million people aged 16 years and over in employment, 113,000 more than a year earlier but 220,000 fewer than the previous quarter, according to data from ONS.
A large number of people are estimated to be temporarily away from work, including furloughed workers, approximately 7.5 million in June with over 3 million of these being away for three months or more, the ONS said.
It said the youngest workers, oldest workers and those in manual or elementary occupations were those most likely to be temporarily away from paid work during the coronavirus pandemic.
The ONS said employment is weakening and unemployment is largely unchanged at 3.9 percent because of increases in economic inactivity, with people out of work but not currently looking for work.
Analysts have warned that unemployment will continue to surge when the government's job retention scheme, which pays 80 percent of workers' salary up to 2,500 pounds (3,268 U.S. dollars) a month to those furloughed, winds up in October.
London, which is heavily dependent on the badly hit service industry including lodging, food and drink service, has been one of the worst-hit regions with the number of claimants in the British capital soaring to 469,700, the highest tally since records began in May 1974, according to the London-based Evening Standard newspaper.
The ONS is expected to confirm on Wednesday that Britain's GDP plummeted by about 20 percent in the second quarter of the year following a 1.8 percent fall in the first three months, according to the newspaper.
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