Unemployment claimant count rises

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in Rochdale has risen.

Last month 6,595 claimed the benefit compared with 6,544 the month before.

Dr Brian Sloan, Head of Business and Economic Policy at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “The unemployment statistics released today highlight the fragility of the recovery. There are mixed fortunes for claimants across Greater Manchester, with Manchester seeing a fall of 521 claimants in December whilst Wigan recorded the first increase since January 2010, rising by 74. Other areas seeing an increase were Bolton and Rochdale.

“Overall across Greater Manchester the claimant count is down by 686, mirroring similar falls to December 2009 due to seasonal worker demand. Sadly we do not expect this to continue and next month’s figures are likely to show a sharp rise for two reasons: Seasonal workers will return to the jobs’ market and today’s figures highlight that public sector job losses are out-pacing private sector creation.

“Some local authority job losses across Greater Manchester have been announced already and our own Quarterly Economic Survey data suggests that intentions to recruit in the coming months are insufficient to create enough jobs to offset these losses. This will damage business and consumer confidence, slowing investment and growth. With onerous employment regulations and national insurance increases ahead, there will be a reluctance in the private sector to create jobs unless absolutely necessary and therefore job creation could be subdued through this year.”