THE continuing fall in unemployment in York is still spiralling downwards as the number of people claiming benefits in the city drops for the third month this year.

New figures released yesterday show there were 970 people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit in March.

The total marked a fall from 1,005 claimants in February, as well as a 12 per cent drop from March 2015, and a decrease of 76 per cent from 2010.

Figures for young people aged between 18 and 24 were slightly less positive with a rise of five claimants from February to March, up to 235, which mirrored 2015's count for March, showing no improvement year-on-year.

Figures are likely to continue to fall according to Sara Farrar, recruitment and partnership manager at Selby, York and Ryedale Jobcentres, with vacancies in retail and hospitality, as well as a 400 new jobs at a house building factory in Sherburn in Elmet on the horizon.

Ms Farrar said: "Hospitality continues to be a major recruiter in the city with loads of vacancies for chefs, bar staff, reception staff etc and the care sector continues to expand to meet the needs of an ageing population.

"Both of these sectors offer excellent opportunities for career progression and should not be thought of simply as entry level jobs.

"The retail sector also continues to be strong, with a number of national employers recruiting, such as Poundland, M&S and Boots.

"This may well be as a result of the success of the recent Primark recruitment creating vacancies with other retailers.

"A little bit further afield in Sherburn in Elmet, Legal and General Homes are recruiting for their new home building production.

"There are vacancies for the roles of factory operative, shift leader/production manager, production planner, general admin, finance and HR."

Mr Farrar said the local Jobcentres are already in discussion with Primark about the timings of their next recruitment campaign for the Coppergate Store due to open in the Autumn, while vacancies are also being advertised for 12 full time refuse collectors at Work With York.

Further afield, Ryedale and Selby both saw a 15 per cent year on year fall to 260 and 720 claimants respectively in March, with the number of young claimants dropping 38 per cent in Ryedale and 22 per cent in Selby.

Nationally the employment rate is at a record high of 74.1 per cent with 360,000 more people in work than this time last year.