THE Chancellor must use today’s Autumn Statement to tackle soaring unemployment rates which continue to plague parts of the North-East more than four years after the Coalition came to power, say union chiefs.

Analysis from the Northern TUC reveals that despite the jobless total falling nationally, in several constituencies across County Durham and Tees Valley the number of people out of work has shown a sharp increase over the last four years. They fear that too much emphasis has been placed on figures that show the numbers of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance rather than taking a broader view to unmask the 'real' jobless statistics.

The biggest increases of unemployment in County Durham and Tees Valley are in Sedgefield – which has jumped 86 per cent - North Durham 77 up by per cent, and Stockton South up by 42 per cent, according to Nomis/ONS data June 2010 to June 2014.

The biggest drops in unemployment have taken place in Redcar -35 per cent, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland -33 per cent and Stockton North -10 per cent.

Neil Foster, policy and campaigns officer for the Northern TUC said unemployment was at a "very worrying rate" in many parts of the region, adding: “The Chancellor needs to use his Autumn Statement to recognise the real economic challenges still facing many local people in the North-East and rethink policies of further cuts to public services and to instead increase investment in our region.

“While the Back on Track campaign led by Phil Wilson (Sedgefield MP) and The Northern Echo will bring a much-needed jobs boost to the Sedgefield constituency through Hitachi, we’ve also lost hundreds of private sector jobs at places such as npower in Thornaby which have not been replaced.

“There’s too much complacency from Government ministers when who are looking at national figures or Jobseeker Allowance figures rather than accept that real unemployment at a local level is going up not down in many areas in our region.”

Kevan Jones MP for North Durham, said: “This important report reflects what is actually happening on the ground in this economy. It shows that under this Coalition Government we have a two-speed Britain, with regions like the North-East being driven into the slow lane by Tory and Liberal Democrat ministers.”

Phil Wilson MP was concerned that too many of the jobs being created in his constituency were on temporary, low paid contracts that wouldn't generate the kind of income tax needed to make a dent on the deficit and fund future investment.

Stockton South MP James Wharton declined to comment.

*The data is drawn from the Annual Population Survey including the Labour Force Survey and measures those who are economically active and unemployed, rather than just those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance which does not include those who do not qualify for JSA or choose not to claim it. This is the preferred measurement by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

All data is drawn from www.nomisweb.co.uk comparing July 2009-June 2010 annual data with July 2013-June 2014 annual data at a constituency level. Datasets for North West Durham and City of Durham were not included due to Nomis regarding those two constituency’s datasets as insufficiently statistically large enough to be reliable.