Competition for jobs is now so fierce that almost 400 people are responding to every job centre advert for some occupations.

Research suggests that up to 19 people are applying for the average job in all lower-skilled occupations, while some sectors see hundreds of applicants for every post advertised.

In new figures announced today, total UK unemployment rose to a 12-year high of 2.26 million during the three months to April. The number increased by 232,000, slightly lower that expected.

As unemployment has grown, it has become more difficult to get another job. The average number of people competing for each position advertised at Jobcentre Plus rose from two last October to seven in April, according to statistics compiled by the Conservative Party.

Theresa May, the Shadow Work and Pensions secretary, said the figures showed the “very real challenge of unemployment across Britain today”.

“Instead of providing real help now to jobseekers Labour have recklessly closed Jobcentres and are cutting the New Deal across half the country,” she said.

“It is essential that jobseekers get as much information as possible on what jobs are available in their area and support if they need to retrain in a different industry or sector.”

A breakdown by individual occupations revealed there were 395 metal workers, 300 aircraft pilots and flight engineers, 150 bricklayers, 127 plasterers, 122 journalists and 96 carpenters applying for every vacancy in their field of employment advertised at Jobcentre Plus.

In April, more than 171,000 people were looking for work as sales or retail assistants, with just over 7,000 jobs advertised.

Meanwhile, more than 100,000 people were chasing 2,440 office assistants’ roles. There were almost 25,000 people wanting to work as fork-lift truck drivers but only 484 vacancies.

There has been a 45 per cent drop in the number of vacancies advertised at Jobcentre Plus since October 2008.

Jim Knight, the Employment Minister, said: “I may have only been in the job for 10 days, but I can see that the Tories are both misinformed and misleading.

“The Tories should get serious about unemployment and stop opposing our extra £5bn investment to expand Jobcentre Plus, provide extra training and guarantee jobs for young people. Instead they are using wrong figures, promising policies they can’t fund and are weaker than the help that’s already available.

“You can’t promise people extra help whilst massively cutting the budget this year and next as the Tories propose to do.”

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that claimants rose by 39,300 in May to 1.54 million. It is the smallest rise in 10 months but the number of people claiming benefits has increased by nearly three quarters of a million over the last year.

Economists expect unemployment to reach three million next year as companies continue to cut jobs, although several analysts have revised down their forecasts to show a peak of just over 3 million, rather than nearly 3.3 million.

Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, said: “Economists may argue about whether we are now out of recession and into recovery, but in the real world of Britain’s workplaces people are still losing their jobs and finding it harder and harder to get new ones.

“It is imperative the Government continues to invest in tackling unemployment. Youth unemployment is now at its highest rate for 15 years, and it will get far worse when millions of fresh school leavers and graduates start looking for work in the coming weeks.

“Unemployment leaves a permanent scar on young people’s lives and Government must do all it can to stop joblessness blighting another generation’s lives.”

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