Unemployment in County Durham is up – despite figures released by the NECC saying figures for the North-East region are positive.
Stats released earlier this week (see graph below) claims unemployment in the county rose slightly to 7.6% in the year to September 2015.
The graph shows how unemployment has changed over time since the best rate (4.8% in 2004)
The number of people in Durham claiming out of work benefits in May 2015 fell slightly to 12.6% of the working age population (41,240 claimants, a decrease of 270 people from last month) with the North East falling to 12.7%, while England & Wales fell to 9.1%.
The South Durham Strategic Partnership Area had the second-highest worklessness rate in the County at 15.0%/13,470 people.
More than 9% of 16-24-year-olds (5,920 young people) in the county were claiming out of work benefits in August 2015, which is a 35.0% decrease since November 2013.
However, new figures released by the NECC this week said employment in the North-East region is up.
The NECC stats said:
• Employment in the North-East stands at 1,214,000 or 70.4% – an increase of 47,000 over the quarter and 28,000 over the year. This compares to a rate of 74.1% nationally.
• North-East unemployment stands at 107,000 or 8.1% – a fall of 2,000 over the quarter but a rise of 4,000 over the year. This compares to a rate of 5.1% nationally.
• The claimant count stands at 47,000 or 3.9% in the North-East. The national claimant count rate is 2.2%.
• The number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants in the North-East who have been claiming for over two years has halved since January 2014.
Paul Carbert (pictured above), the NECC’s policy advisor, said: “This is very encouraging news.
“We’re very pleased to see the employment rate up 2.1% over the quarter; this is the largest rise in the country for the second month running.
“Although unemployment has decreased it still remains high compared to the rest of the UK.
“The number of people in our region aged 16-64 who are classed as economically active has risen over the quarter.
“This may be due to people re-entering the labour market after being on long-term sick or caring for a relative and have not yet found work.
“Nevertheless, long-term unemployment is falling so the North-East is definitely heading in the right direction.”
See graph below showing APS unemployment over time…
