London, despite the much-reported cull in financial services jobs, does not appear on the list of the ten UK cities worst hit by rising unemployment.

Instead, Birmingham, which is at the centre of much of Britain's car industry, and big cities in the North and Scotland are taking the brunt of job cuts in the current recession.

Also badly hit are areas associated with traditional manufacturing, which some argue have not fully recovered from previous recessions.

According to analysis from the Work Foundation, the employment think-tank, Birmingham has suffered the biggest rise in the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance. In February the claimant rate in the city was 7.3per cent, up from 5.3per cent in the same month last year, with a total of 12,383 people signing on.

Leeds showed the next biggest jump, with a claimant rate of 4.3 per cent this February - representing 8,930 people - compared with 2.5per cent last February. Glasgow took third place, up from 3.7 per cent in February 2008 to 5.2 per cent this year, or 5,873 people.

Other cities in the North, such as Sheffield and Hull, have also been badly hit. Hull's claimant rate stood at 8 per cent in February this year compared with 4.8 per cent last year.

The large rise suffered by Birmingham follows a serious fall-off in jobs in the motor industry, as large manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover have cut back, causing numerous suppliers to shed jobs and cut back production in turn. Next month Unite, the biggest union in the UK, will stage a march in Birmingham to demand that the Government does more to help the automotive industry.

The union and employers' groups are calling for help from the Government to supplement the wages of people on short-time working so that companies can afford to keep workers employed during the downturn.

The Work Foundation's research found sharp rises in claimant counts in local authority areas that have been heavily dependent on long-established industries. In the North East, the Wear Valley's claimant rate rose to 6.2 per cent in February this year compared with 2.9 per cent last year. In South Wales, Blaenau Gwent jumped from 4.7 per cent last year to 8per cent this year.

Naomi Clayton, senior researcher at the Work Foundation, said: “Places in the eye of the storm as job losses mount are the UK's core cities and areas associated with traditional manufacturing - places that in many cases had yet to recover fully from previous recessions before this one set in.”

She warned: “Policymakers ignore how recessions play out locally at their peril. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming budget focuses much more attention on the large cities - Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham - that can drive the recovery, as well as recognising which areas need the most support to survive and prepare for better times.”

Money Central: the top 10 unemployment hotspots

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