Jobless total in North and East Yorkshire still rising

8:56am Thursday 21st January 2010

By Mike Laycock

UNEMPLOYMENT in North and East Yorkshire has risen to its highest level in 13 years.

But the jobless rate appears to have stabilised in York, while Selby has seen a modest fall in the numbers out of work.

Nationwide, the Government has been given welcome news with the first fall in unemployment in almost two years. The number of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance across the country fell by 15,200 in December to 1.61 million, the biggest monthly fall since April 2007.

But in North Yorkshire, the number of claimants rose last month to 10,259 – or 2.9 per cent of those eligible – from 10,170 in November. There were just 7,197 claimants in December 2008, and the last time there were more than 10,250 claimants was in March 1997.

In the East Riding of Yorkshire area, the number rose to 7,063 last month – 3.6 per cent of eligible claimants – compared with 6,951 in November, and 5,483 in December 2008. Again, the last time the figure was above 7,000 was in March 1997.

In the City of York Council area, the number of claimants rose by just two from 3,856 in November to 3,858 last month – three per cent – compared with 2,697 in December 2008.

Possibly the most encouraging statistic emerged in the Selby district, where the number of claimants fell from 1,695 in November to 1,631 last month – down from 3.3 per cent of eligible claimants to 3.2 per cent.

However, the December figure is still considerably worse than the 1,120 claimants in the same month a year earlier.

City Of York council leader Andrew Waller said York’s stable figure left it below the national average and significantly below the regional average.

“Jobs continue to be created in the city and the figures show that in December, nearly 800 people came off the register, but that was matched by a similar number going on,” he said.

“Therefore I would urge all companies to look for what help is available to help them retain the numbers of staff through money for training.”

The number of unemployed people in the Yorkshire and Humber region rose by 14,000 in the three months to November to reach a total of 239,000.

• Employment specialists Working Links say they have sourced 135 job vacancies for the unemployed in York in the last three months, many in hospitality and the catering industry.