Manufacturing has been one of the worst affected sectors in the recession, with redundancies more than doubling in the first three months of 2009 to 67,000, up from 29,000 in 2008.

Also on the march was trade union official Bobby Morton, from the Wirral, Merseyside, whose daughter and her partner recently lost their jobs.

Mr Morton, 59, said: "It’s so important to come here today because there are genuine cases of employers laying people off because they cannot afford to carry on.

"However there are a lot of employers that have jumped on the back of the recession and are sacking people to protect share prices and profits.

"What we hope to achieve today is for the Government to take notice."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ``Unemployment is rising relentlessly. It will pass the 2.5 million mark next month and could hit three million by the end of the year.

"Behind these statistics are millions of people struggling to pay their mortgages and support their families. Local people here today will know more than most the price of unemployment. The West Midlands - the manufacturing heartland of the UK - has been hit harder than anywhere else with nearly one in 10 people without a job.

"Manufacturing, once the lifeblood of our economy, continues to suffer. Successive governments have hung it out to dry in favour of an unregulated financial services sector - and look what good that’s done to our economy.

"What grates most is that ordinary working people are paying the price for the mistakes of an elite few, who have laid the system to waste and still walked away with their millions.

"Even as unemployment rises at its fastest rate for 30 years, some city players are already talking about recovery in the financial sector, as if the spectre of three million unemployed doesn’t matter."

A Department for Business spokesman said: "The Government is absolutely focused on supporting workers and businesses through this global recession.

"We are taking action now to help the country, whilst putting in place the building blocks for future recovery by investing in skills, jobs and the key sectors of the economy.

"Manufacturing is the unsung hero of the UK economy. That is why Government recently outlined its commitment to range of opportunities in the sector, including nurturing our skills base in high tech and low carbon manufacturing."