Unemployment down for fourth successive month

The number of people out of work in Rochdale is down, in line with national figures which show that unemployment fell for the first time in almost two years and fewer people claimed jobseeker’s allowance.

In December, there were seven fewer unemployed people in Rochdale, although the number of men out of work grew by 41 to 5,517.

There were 48 more women in work, in line with the national trend, taking the total down to 1,926 out of a total number of unemployed in the borough of 7,443, the fourth successive monthly fall.

This figure represents 5.9% of the working population, well above the the national average of 4.1% and higher than the regional figure of 4.6.

Samantha Barker, Policy Manager for Employment and Skills at Greater Manchester Chamber, said: “Today’s news will cause many people across Greater Manchester to breathe a sigh a relief as unemployment appears to have levelled off.

“Although a positive result, people still need to be mindful that this month’s figures reflect the climate in December and not January. Next month’s figures may see a shedding of seasonal jobs which may have masked the true situation.”

Nationally, the number of people out of work in the three months to November was cut by 7,000 to 2.46 million, although the rate remained unchanged at 7.8%.

The claimant count fell for the second month in a row in December, down by 15,200 to 1.61 million, the biggest monthly fall since April 2007.

The number of unemployed people is more than half a million higher than a year ago, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Other figures revealed a 16,000 fall in the number of 16 to 24–year–olds out of work to 927,000, a jobless rate of almost 20%.

The news was not all good, with the number of people in work falling by 14,000 over the latest quarter to 28.9 million, the lowest figure since last summer.

Long–term unemployment — those out of work for more than a year — increased by 29,000 to 631,000, the highest figure since 1997.

The number of people classed as economically inactive, including people who have taken early retirement or have given up looking for work, increased by 79,000 in the three months to November to reach a record high of 8.05 million, 21% of the working age population.

The rise was largely driven by an increase of 81,000 in the number of students not looking for work to reach a record high of 2.24 million.

Today’s figures revealed a fall of 113,000 in the number of people in full–time jobs, to 21.21 million, compared with a 99,000 increase in part–time workers to 7.71 million.

Public sector employment increased by 23,000 to 6.09 million between June and September last year, while private sector employment rose by 29,000.

There were 30 million jobs in the economy last September, down 127,000 over the quarter, with the biggest fall in construction, although vacancies rose by 16,000 to 448,000.