UNEMPLOYMENT in York and North Yorkshire increased slightly in January, reflecting the seasonal employment patterns.

The number of people claiming JobSeekers Allowance in York increased to 3,038, from 2,850 in December last year – the highest since October – after which it dipped below the 3,000 mark for two months. The figure is, however, down on January 2012, when 3,603 people were claiming.

Coun James Alexander, leader of City of York Council, said: “While it’s disappointing to see a slight increase in unemployment, month on month, this is something we see each year and is linked to seasonal patterns in employment particularly in the leisure and retail industry.

“Importantly, year on year we’ve seen 565 fewer people claiming JSA since January 2012 and we’re in the top ten least affected cities in the UK for our claimant count rate since February 2008, as ranked by Centre For Cities 2013, all of which points to a continued positive employment trend for the city.”

In Selby, unemployment went up from 1,268 in December to 1,381 in January, again an improvement on January 2012, when 1,711 people were claiming JSA.

Selby has also seen an improvement in its jobless rate since September before increasing again in January.

Ryedale saw increased unemployment from 695 to 738, the highest since March last year and in East Yorkshire, unemployment rose from 6,830 to 7,086, the highest since May.

York’s proportion of claimants remained low, at 2.3 per cent of the working age population, which, although up on 2.2 per cent in December, is below the regional and national proportion of people on JobSeekers Allowance, which have also risen.

In Yorkshire, the figure increased from 4.7 per cent to 4.9 per cent, while taking non-seasonally adjusted figures for Great Britain, the figure also increased from 3.7 per cent to 3.8 per cent of the working-age population, between December 2012 and January 2013.

However, the Government, which uses seasonally adjusted figures not available on a local level, said unemployment has fallen nationally, with 12,500 fewer people claiming JobSeekers Allowance in the last month, and the number of young people aged 16 to 24 in work rising by 66,000 in the last quarter.


Help with new start

More than 1,500 jobseekers in our region have set up new businesses under the New Enterprise Allowance.

Between April, 2011, and November 2012, 120 people in York were matched with a mentor to help them start their business, 280 in East Yorkshire, 120 in Scarborough, 90 in Selby and 40 in Ryedale. About 740 of the total figure have so far gone on to claim a weekly allowance.

Richard Bothamley, a 63-year-old former landscape manager at a large housing association set up a florist, Setting The Scene With Flowers, in Vine Street, York, after he was made redundant.

He said: “Since I opened the shop in York the business is doing better than I could have wished for. I already have lots of weddings booked in for 2013, so I have had to take on another member of staff and also my partner has joined the company to help me deal with all the orders.”