Unemployment falls

The latest labour market figures show that the claimant count in Greater Manchester fell by 129 in September to 84,909 and nationally unemployment fell by 50,000 to 2.53million.

The North West region also saw the highest fall in unemployment of any UK region; the number of unemployed falling by 40,000 over the quarter to August 2012.

Dr Brian Sloan, Chief Economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “As always, the devil is in the detail with this statistical release. Last month we warned that the official figures indicated that the jobs market was stalling in the region, and though it is good to see that there has been a considerable fall in unemployment again, these figures support our belief that the jobs market in the region is flat at present. 

“Part time working and self-employment, as a result of unemployment push, are also increasing. The domestic economy remains very weak in this region and more must be done to support growth to create sustainable and long term job opportunities to address worklessness.”