The service sector has added more than 3.3 million jobs since Tony Blair came to power, with business and financial services the biggest winners, according to new research.

The GMB union found that business and financial services (24.8%), education (18.4%) and health (15.2%) recorded the highest percentage share of the gross new jobs created in Great Britain, according to government findings.

The union came to its conclusions by comparing the Annual Business Inquiry for September 1997 and December 2004 - the latter published in December 2005 by the Office of National Statistics.

Lancashire was the top region for service sector growth, with a gross increase of 78,000 new jobs during the period, followed by Kent (70,200) and Leeds (68,000).

The analysis was based on where the jobs are based and not where the workers live.

“Over the last three months we've seen a significant increase in activity and project-related work in the financial services sector,” said John Ingle, financial services consultant at recruitment agency PMR Group. “We're talking to people who on haven't worked on a contract for six months and are now getting three to four interviews a week.”