Hull and Blackpool have highest jobless rates in UK

Unemployment worse in already struggling areas but rate is rising rapidly elsewhere

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Blackpool and Hull have the highest rates of unemployment in the UK as the pandemic causes disproportionate economic damage on the towns and cities at the heart of the government's levelling-up agenda.

With unemployment rising across the country, research from two leading organisations suggested that areas where the local economies were struggling before the pandemic struck are now among the hardest-hit.

Related: UK redundancies rise at fastest rate since 2009 amid Covid crisis