UNEMPLOYMENT in the North-East has increased by 6,000 in the quarter, figures showed yesterday.
The region's jobless count climbed to 84,000 in the three months to April, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics.
The North-East's 6.7 per cent unemployment rate is still the highest of all region's outside London.
The number of people in employment dropped by 5,000 in the quarter to 1,580,000.
The UK still has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe at 5.4 per cent, but the figure has increased by 0.2 per cent in the past year compared with an average European Union fall of 0.9 per cent.
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