Yorkshire's jobless tally falls as employment rise hits new record

The unemployment rate now stands at 9.1% across the region, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. A total of 242,000 people remain unemployed in the region.

Nationwide, some 286,000 more people secured jobs over the three-month period.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "(The) jump in employment, driven by the private sector, is good news but it doesn't disguise the fact that the system the Government inherited is failing to get people on welfare into these jobs.

"It is neither fair for the nearly five million people on benefits, nor the taxpayer who supports them.

"That's why we are pressing ahead with re-testing everyone claiming incapacity benefits and introducing our new Work Programme, which will give people the tailored support they need to move them into sustained work."

He said that while the number of people in employment rose by 286,000 on the latest quarter, the nearly five million people claiming the three main out-of-work benefits had not improved significantly, with a slight increase this month in the numbers claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "These are mixed figures. There is some good news, but those figures that look most clearly at what is now happening are more disappointing.

"The worry must be that we are at a turning point as spending cuts hit business and consumer confidence. What is clear is that the economy is still extremely fragile. With more than one in six young people without work, the best the Government can expect is a largely jobless recovery. At worst the economy could go into reverse, as the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) now recognise."