The UK labour force contracted marginally in the three months to February this year, the first decline after four quarters of growth, and unemployment edged up, according to new Office for National Statistics data.

The number of people aged 16 and over in work was 29.698m, down 2,000 on the number working in the period September-November 2012. This accompanied a rise in the unemployment rate from 7.7% to 7.9%, with 2.56m people unemployed.

In the most recent quarter, 56,000 men exited work, while 54,000 women gained jobs. However, the unemployment rate for both genders rose.

The number of people in temporary jobs dropped by 55,000, and the number of people in part-time roles also dropped by 33,000.

Ian Brinkley, director of The Work Foundation, comments: “As we predicted, economic reality has caught up with the labour market. The jobs recovery of 2012 appears to have stalled.

“These numbers should be a spur for the government to focus the upcoming Spending Review on supporting activities with the potential to create jobs and drive growth.”

Kevin Green, chief executive officer of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, says: “Although there has been an increase in a number of unemployed this month, all the indications and feedback we receive from recruiters show that businesses intend to hire more people this year. We expect to see slow growth in the jobs market over the coming months.”

Peter Searle, CEO at Adecco Group UK & Ireland, adds: “Today’s employment figures reflect belt tightening and hiring freezes of many employers. Although we have seen early signs of optimism in March and early April, there is no getting away from the worrying numbers of those who are young and unemployed.