Today's data show the following:

• the headline unemployment rate (on the ILO definition) rose to 7.6% over the period March to May 2009, up 0.9 percentage points on the rate for the period December 2008 to February 2009; and
• the ILO unemployment level was 2.38 million, up 281,000 on the three months to February 2009, and up 753,000 on the same period a year ago.

Many economic commentators expect unemployment to top three million during the current recession.

The CIPD argues that unemployment will continue to rise rapidly, rendering meaningless recent talk of a new collaborative spirit between employers and employees arising in response to the recession and expressed in a willingness to explore alternatives to redundancy.

According to CIPD chief economist Dr John Philpott:

[W]ith 300,000 redundancies recorded in the first quarter alone and, as our helpline data suggest, more on the way throughout the remainder of the year, one should probably avoid putting too positive a spin on the impact of this recession on the workplace.

But there is strong evidence to suggest that employers and employees are doing all they can to avoid job losses.

The 2009 IRS redundancy survey (subscription required) found that employers are on average using three or more measures to minimise compulsory redundancies, and these can include pay cuts, pay freezes, reduced overtime and short-time working.

• In the latest XpertHR outlook video - launched today - XpertHR editors David Shepherd and Jo Stubbs look at how employers are turning to alternative methods of cutting staff costs such as pay cuts, unpaid leave, sabbaticals and flexible working.