The economic recovery in parts of North Yorkshire has been sluggish compared with the rest of the country, according to a report out today.

A study of jobless figures over five years reveals that although they have fallen, they have not come down by as much as in other parts of Yorkshire and the United Kingdom.

York has managed to buck the trend, according to the statistics - but the figures for Malton are worse than anywhere else in Yorkshire and Humberside.

The GMB union, which compiled the report, today called for urgent action if the region was not to face a difficult winter.

In York, unemployment has dropped to half its level five years ago - almost exactly the same as the national average.

But in the Selby and Goole area, it has only dipped by 44 per cent, and in Malton, by just under 40 per cent.

The figures look poor beside those for southern counties like Surrey and Hertfordshire, where jobless levels have plunged by as much as 78 per cent.

The average drop in unemployment over the last five years in Yorkshire and Humberside is, at 46 per cent, worse than the national average.

John Edmonds, GMB general secretary, said: "This study shows that the recovery in Yorkshire is very fragile. The Government must keep up the pressure on the Bank of England to reduce interest rates. If they don't, then this month's rise in unemployment will become the trend rather than a one-off blip."

Peter Green, chairman of the Malton and Norton chamber of trade, said it was normal for the town to experience a "delayed reaction" to economic trends. He said: "Changes always take time to filter through to us because we have all levels of the economic spectrum, including people with money stacked away who can sponge off it for a while. It is when they start running out that the rest of us feel it."

Selby MP John Grogan said the poor figures in his area might be explained by the fact that the area had shed many manufacturing and mining jobs in the last five years.

But he said: "There has still been a strong fall in unemployment in Selby and employment opportunities are increasing all the time.

"Selby is well positioned for the next five years as it continues to diversify, with the Sherburn industrial estate and Saint Gobain glass factory in Eggborough.

The bypass will make it even more attractive economically."

He agreed that interest rates could come down and said he hoped the Bank of England would lower them.

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