Unemployment rates remain above pre-recession levels, indicating that the UK economy remains worse off than it was before the credit crunch, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has claimed.

Ahead of new official jobs figures published this week, the TUC released figures showing half a million more people out of a job between January and March compared with the same period in 2008.

It says the problem is UK-wide but that Yorkshire and the Humber region have the biggest “jobs gap” with 100,000 fewer people in jobs between the two sets of dates.

The latest official figures show a large increase in employment and corresponding fall in unemployment.

Comparing the period February-to-April 2014 with November 2013 to January 2014, employment swelled 345,000 while the number of unemployed people dropped 161,000, according to Office for National Statistics data.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady warned that recent optimism should be weighed against the group’s latest figures and that a hike in interest rates should be postponed.

“The recent upturn in the economy has prompted lots of speculation about an increase in interest rates,” she said. “Those hawks that are keen for interest rates to rise have forgotten that unemployment is still over two million.”