North West sees biggest rise in unemployment

THE North West recorded the largest rise in unemployment of any region in the country between February and April.

Overall, the UK experienced the biggest quarterly fall in unemployment since 2000 with 88,000 people finding work, taking the jobless total down to 2.43 million.

But in the North West the number of unemployed rose by 13,000 to 277,000, or 8.1% of the working population.

The only other UK regions to see a growth in unemployment were the East of England (8,000) and the South West (4,000).

Despite the national fall in unemployment the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in May grew by 19,600 to 1.49 million, or 4.6% of the working population, compared to April. This discrepancy is thought to be down to changes to benefit rules and the type of benefit claimants receive. In the North West this figure grew by 3,100 to 185,000 or 5.3% of the working population.

Manchester-based think tank the New Economy focused its attention on a 6.5% fall in youth unemployment in Greater Manchester since last May. It said there has also been a 20% fall in the number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance over a period of more than six months.

Baron Frankal, director of economic strategy, said: “Whilst unemployment across the board has remained largely the same, these figures would indicate that young people have found it easier to get into employment last month than they did at the same time last year.

“Having said this, the figures do change across Greater Manchester from region to region, showing that the unemployment trends vary.”