The number of unemployed jumped 38,000 to 2.49m in the three months to June, the biggest increase since May 2009 and the first since the start of the year.
Recruitment in the mortgage industry has steadily declined since spring as the eurozone crisis continues to impact confidence and optimism over the economy.
Pete Gwilliam, owner of mortgage industry recruitment firm Virtus Search, said: “The eurozone issues have meant that the momentum we saw in spring has started to decline quite quickly on the back of falling business confidence and unsteady financial markets.
“There are a higher proportion of people actively seeking employment in the industry since spring and unfortunately, more people are leaving the industry than joining it.”
He added that the industry has to work hard to attract new talent.
“We’ve had to face tough market conditions which I think has deterred many people from joining the industry, at the same time I think that businesses don’t have the resources to take on new people and train them, instead they prefer to take on experienced staff.
“The industry needs to work collaboratively to train and develop young people, because that training function seems to have been lost in many networks. Many employers aren’t seeing the potential returns in hiring new talent.”
