Employment opportunities are becoming available in the public sector, even during the current unstable economic situation, it has been claimed.

A spokesperson for UNISON, Britain and Europe's biggest public sector union, has said that there are "growth areas" in the public sector, as occupations such as teaching assistants and community police officers are being promoted.

The spokesperson commented: "You have areas where the government are recruiting where you're getting a whole new raft of people coming into the public sector."

According to a report entitled Public Sector Employment Q2 2008 undertaken by the Office for National Statistics, public sector employment rose by 13,000 in the second quarter of this year to 5.771 million.

It was also found by the research that employment in central government went up by 8,000.

However, civil service employment decreased by 1,000.

UNISON has over 1.3 million members who work in the public services.