Unemployment in Yorkshire soars

UNEMPLOYMENT in Yorkshire has soared by 14,000, bucking the national trend which showed the number of people out of work dropping for the first time since the start of the recession.

Figures for the three months to November 2009 show there were 239,000 jobless in the region – almost one in ten people of working age. The numbers of people classed as “economically inactive” were more than double this.

Yorkshire has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country at 9.1 per cent, with only the North East, the West Midlands and London having a greater level of people out of work.

Across the United Kingdom, the number of people without a job in the last quarter was cut by 7,000 to 2.46 million, although the rate remained unchanged at 7.8 per cent.

Despite the small drop, there are half a million more unemployed now than a year ago, with economists warning that the job market is still “far from healthy”.

The numbers of people who are classed as “economically inactive” has reached a record high of more than eight million – 21.2 per cent of the working-age population. In Yorkshire the level was even higher, with 705,000 people economically inactive – more than one in five people.

The rise was largely driven by an increase of 81,000 students across the country, classed as economically active because they are not looking for work.

Nationally, the number of people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance fell for the second month in a row in December. It saw the biggest monthly fall since April 2007, dropping by 15,200 to 1.61 million.

Figures published yesterday by the Office of National Statistics, also revealed the number of 16- to 24-year-olds out of work has fallen by 16,000 to 927,000, a jobless rate of almost 20 per cent.

Despite the fall in overall unemployment, the number of people in work also fell 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.

Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The jobs market is still tough for a lot of people, but the drop in unemployment and youth unemployment is very welcome. It means 450,000 fewer people are out of work than everyone expected last spring.

“The extra investment in jobs, education and training is making a real difference, helping people through the recession and preventing the kind of unemployment we saw in the 80s and 90s.”

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Theresa May said: “Any fall in the level of unemployment is welcome news, but the figures are still real cause for concern.

“Economic inactivity has hit a record high and there are 2.3 million people out there out of work and who want a job, but aren’t included in the unemployment figures. We still have a long way to go to undo the damage done by Labour’s recession.”

John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “The latest figures show that the UK jobs market remains in a far from healthy state and it would be wrong to conclude that unemployment has peaked.”