The rise over the three months to June was the largest quarterly increase since 1989.
Employment is up 104,000 on the year but is 507,000 lower than two years previously. The quarterly increase in total employment was mainly driven by part-time workers, which increased by 115,000 on the quarter to reach 7.84 million, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.
The number of full-time workers increased by 68,000 on the quarter to reach 21.18 million.
The unemployment rate for the three months to June 2010 was 7.8 per cent, down 0.2 on the quarter and the number of unemployed people fell by 49,000 over the quarter to reach 2.46 million.
The number of people unemployed for up to twelve months fell by 82,000, to reach 1.66 million.
However, the number of people unemployed for more than twelve months increased by 33,000 over the quarter to reach 796,000, the highest figure since the three months to March 1997.
Brian Johnson, an insolvency practitioner at chartered accountants, HW Fisher & Co, said despite the good figures out today, the UK was in for a tough time.
He said: “The scale of the cuts facing The Ministry of Justice, revealed earlier this week, offers an insight into just how extreme the public sector cull will be. The theory is that the private sector will take up the slack but in practice this is highly unlikely.
"Many SMEs remain extremely nervous about taking on new staff. Either that or they are unable to given the absence of funding. You need money to grow and for many perfectly viable companies that money just isn't there.”
And Dan Watkins, director of find-a-solicitor service, Contact Law, added: "We have seen a significant rise in the number of people ringing us for legal advice on employment-related issues, in particular people who have recently been made redundant or are about to lose their jobs.
"In the past month alone, employment-related enquiries have increased by 15%, the majority of which are coming from people working in the public sector. We expect the number of employment-related enquiries to rise considerably in the next six to 12 months as public sector cuts start to be implemented."
