Jobless total falls in North Yorkshire

In York and the Selby district, the number of jobless is still rising but the rate of increase has slowed since early 2009.

Latest figures show the number of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance in North Yorkshire fell between March and April by 65 to 9,933, compared with an increase of more than 1,500 between January and February.

In East Riding of Yorkshire, the number of claimants fell by 91 to 6,936 in April, compared with an increase of almost 800 between January and March.

In the City of York Council area, the number of people claiming the allowance rose by 148 to 3,735 in April, but that compares with an increase of more than 350 between January and February.

The number of unfilled vacancies at Job Centre Plus in York also rose by 100 to 1,404 in April, compared with just 883 in January.

In Selby district, the number of claimants rose by 64 to 1,787 in April, compared with an increase of more than 250 in February.

The figures have been greeted with caution by both York MP Hugh Bayley and Selby MP John Grogan.

Mr Bayley said he was apprehensive there would be further increases in unemployment as the year went on.

“I am still very concerned about jobless levels,” he said. “The increase may have slowed down but the council, Government and employers must continue to do everything they can to retain jobs and attract new employment to York.”

He said he had no doubt the rise in unemployment would have been much worse than it is, had Britain and other countries such as America, France and Germany not carried out strong action to stimulate the economy.

He said he chaired the economics committee of the NATO parliamentary assembly, and he had just returned from a meeting in America at which the International Monetary Fund and World Bank had said the global economy would contract by between three and four per cent.

But it had said the contraction would have been as much as nine per cent, but for the fiscal stimulus package agreed by Governments, leading to a catastrophic economic collapse and unemployment.

Mr Grogan said while the slowing down of the increase was welcome, he would be reluctant to draw any firm conclusions on the basis of one months’ figures.

He said: “We would need to see a trend over three or four months before any conclusions can be reached about the true situation.”