THE North-East is the only English region to have endured an unemployment rise – and the situation is expected to worsen once redundancies from Teesside’s troubled steel sector are fully revealed.

New figures show 109,000 people were out of work between July and September.

The number was 6,000 higher than the previous quarter and gave the North-East the UK’s largest unemployment rate of 8.6 per cent.

Nationally, unemployment fell by more than 100,000 to its lowest level in more than seven years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the South-West and South-East having the lowest unemployment rates of 3.9 per cent.

But the North-East is struggling after the liquidation of loss-making SSI, which resulted in almost 2,000 redundancies at the steel plant and saw hundreds of contractors laid off.

Allied to the closure of Caparo Industries’ Hartlepool foundry and changes to Tata Steel’s North-East Long Products division, it means about 3,000 people are searching for work. Jason Livingston, of the JobCentre Plus, told The Northern Echo more than 1,000 people, who either worked at SSI or a supplier, made claims in the last month.

Mr Livingston, senior operations manager for the Durham and Tees Valley area, said a recent jobs fair did help more than 100 into work, adding double that number have also found salvation through short-term contracts or self-employment.

But he also pointed out the ONS’ figures take into account just a fraction of the job losses made by firms when SSI first paused work in mid-September, and said the true picture of the region’s steel woes are still to be revealed.

He added: “It’s disappointing to see the figures go up.

“What we need to do is work even harder with people who are out of work because there are lots of opportunities out there.

“Some of the SSI workers are already back into work because they are highly desirable thanks to their high skills set, but we are still seeing the full emerging picture of the true volumes.”

SSI’s collapse has sent reverberations around the local supply chain, with more than 800 people having already lost their jobs.

They include posts at Teesport operator PD Ports, which oversaw delivery of SSI-made steel slab to foreign customers, County Durham coal and transport firm Hargreaves Services and Redcar’s Peterson Engineering.

It is also feared more than 9,000 jobs are at risk at more than 800 companies nationwide, which held contracts with the Thai-controlled steelmaker before it succumbed to a mounting cash crisis.

Last week, the SSI Task Force, set up to help divide an £80m Government support pot, announced £35m will be spent to help companies take on staff, allow firms to expand and provide emergency funding for ex-steelworkers facing extreme hardship.