Unemployment in region on the rise despite national drop (From The Northern Echo)

Unemployment in region on the rise despite national drop

2:59pm Wednesday 20th January 2010 in

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UNEMPLOYMENT in the region continues to rise despite a national fall in the number of people out of work.

The North-East jobless total rose by 7,000 between September and November last year.

A total of 126,000 - 9.8 per cent of the workforce - were registered as unemployed.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, unemployment increased by 14,000 to 239,000 giving an unemployment rate of 8.2 per cent.

Unemployment also increased in London, South-East and Scotland.

However, the jobless rate fell in many other regions, including the North-West, West Midlands, South West and Wales.

Although unemployment in the region went up, the number of people employed also increased - by 19,000 in the North-East and 1,000 in Yorkshire.

Despite this, Mark Stephenson, policy adviser at the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), said the employment situation in the region remained very serious.

He added: "With much of the turnaround in the economy resulting from stimulus packages from the Government and the Monetary Policy Committee, there is concern for the longer term recovery of the economy.

"It is essential that a clear path back to economic stability is outlined soon in order to safeguard future investment in the UK."

Nationally, the number of people out of work in the three months to November fell by 7,000 to 2.46 million, although the rate remained unchanged at 7.8 per cent.

There was further good news for the Government with the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance falling for the second month in a row in December, down by 15,200 to 1.61 million.

The drop was the biggest monthly fall since April 2007.

However, in the North-East and Yorkshire the claimant figures were unchanged.

The number of unemployed people is more than half-a-million higher than a year ago, the data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Other figures revealed a 16,000 fall in the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work to 927,000, a jobless rate of almost 20 per cent.

Long-term unemployment - those out of work for more than a year - increased by 29,000 to 631,000, the highest figure since 1997.