According to the Labour Force Survey, the rise in blue-collar unemployment - both skilled and unskilled - was three times greater than among managerial and professional staff and almost three times greater than that for people with administrative and secretarial skills.
The Labour Force Survey counts unemployed people as those that are jobless and actively seeking work - not just people claiming unemployment benefits.
According to the CIPD, the lower rise in white-collar unemployment can be put down to the growth in public-sector employment. And the tough recession in construction and manufacturing has hit the blue-collar workforce hard.
John Philpott, chief economist at the CIPD, said: "The relative impact of the Brown recession on different groups of workers looks remarkably similar to the Thatcher and Major recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s, with skilled and unskilled blue-collar workers once again bearing the brunt.
"Heavy job losses in the financial and business services sectors - plus the fact that jobless managers and professionals often attract more public attention - probably explain why there has been so much talk about a ‘white-collar recession'. But the unemployment figures clearly show that blue-collar manual workers have suffered most."
Blue-collar, manual workers are bearing the brunt of the recession, says CIPD
Blue-collar workers have suffered 'far more' from unemployment in the recession than white-collar staff, according to the CIPD.
