The total number of people unemployed in the UK has risen to 1.85 million, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
The number for March to May 2015 is a 15,000 increase over the previous quarter, and is the first rise in unemployment numbers in two years.
The unemployment rate was highest in the North East (7.7%) and lowest in the South East (4.4%), but “none of the changes in the unemployment rate estimates were particularly large”, according to the ONS.
The figures also showed that the number of people in work was down 67,000 from the previous quarter to 30.98 million people, the first quarterly fall since April 2013.
Despite the small rise, the unemployment rate for the UK remains substantially lower than the EU average, with only Germany lower (4.7%), and at a similar level to the US (5.5%).
