The TUC reports an increase of 700,000 people claming jobseekers allowance since July 2008 - and an increase of 76,230 in sales and retail.
This is partly because of large-scale redundancies at retailers including Woolworths (27,000), Clinton Cards (2,100) and Land of Leather (1,000).
But the TUC also found staff in lower paid jobs have been disproportionately affected by the recession.
More than a third (37%) of those who usually hold junior administration roles (37%) are claiming jobseekers allowance, as are 30% of people who have basic jobs at processing plants and 20% of those who usually work in warehouses.
The five worst affected occupations are elementary administration roles, elementary plant process jobs, elementary goods storage occupations, mobile machine drivers and general admin jobs.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "These figures explode the myth this is some kind of classless - or even middle-class - recession. It is the low-skilled and the low-paid who are bearing the brunt. And they are certainly not seeing any recovery."
