Unemployment in North rises by 100,000 as national figure falls

While the headline rate of national unemployment has fallen for the last three months, analysis by the IPPR North think-tank shows that every region other than the West Midlands and South West have experienced a rise in unemployment with an increase of 97,000 in the North, and 11,000 in Yorkshire.

The research also reveals that long term-unemployment continues to rise, with the number of people out of work for more than a year up to 886,000, the highest since 1996, and there are now 1.4 million people working part-time who say that they want a full-time job – more than at any time since records began in 1992.

Rachel Reeves MP, Leeds West MP and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “These shocking figures show the price being paid by people in the north of England for this Conservative-led government’s economic mistakes. As Labour warned, raising taxes and cutting spending too far and too fast has choked off the recovery.”

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “We are working hard to tackle unemployment across the country, and with policies like the Regional Growth Fund and the setting up of Enterprise Zones in Yorkshire we’re taking extra action to help areas which have been overly reliant on the public sector in the past.

“The latest figures also showed there were 37,000 more people in work in Yorkshire and the Humber than a year before.”