UNEMPLOYMENT figures in York and North and East Yorkshire are coming down again after increasing at the beginning of the year.

But council leader-elect, Coun James Alexander, said City of York Council needed to support public sector employment to sustain the reduction in unemployment.

In York, the number of people claiming JobSeekers Allowance in April fell by a total of 134 people to 3,442 claimants, which represents 2.5 per cent of the local authority’s population, with people leaving and joining the register.

Of those who left the register, 480 had found work, 65 transferred to Government-supported training, 25 moved abroad, 25 switched to claiming incapacity benefit or income support and 20 went to prison.

The figures have now dropped back to levels seen in December 2010, before they peaked in February to 3,660 claimants. Nationally, the number of claimants has increased by 12,400 since March, much of which the Government has attributed to welfare reforms.

Local authorities in North and East Yorkshire again outperformed the national average of 3.7 per cent, and the Yorkshire and Humber average of 4.4 per cent, each showing a slight decrease since March, as well as a significant reduction from April 2010.

North Yorkshire showed a decrease of 685 claimants since March to 8,928 in April, which is also a drop of 810 from April last year.

Claimants in Selby dropped by 64 on the previous month and are 154 down from last year.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said he welcomed the fall, saying: “I warmly welcome this further reduction in the number of unemployed in our area.

“It is clear that private sector confidence is continuing to build and we are seeing the benefits of this in Selby and more people are finding work.”

In Ryedale, 60 fewer people were claiming JobSeekers Allowance than in March and 68 fewer than last year. And in the East Riding, figures dropped by 248 on last month and 367 on last year.

Coun Alexander said: ““A slight fall is welcome news but I’m keen to see a more sustained drop in the figures so they are heading back to 2008 levels.

“York has a relatively healthy economy, yet one that is unbalanced and overly reliant on the public sector. Labour policies in power will be to support the public sector, which provides vital services to local people, but place greater emphasis than has been the case on the expansion of private industry, and jobs for York people.”

Fifty people in York aged 18 to 24 stopped claiming benefits, although 930 young people in the city are still unemployed.

York Press: The Press - Comment

Here’s hoping

AT the start of the year, unemployment rates in York were beginning to look worrying again and with the spectre of further job losses in the public sector, there was little cause for optimism.

So it is a relief to see that for the past two months fewer people have been forced to sign on.

Now the jobless figure is where it was last December. Nationally, though, the picture is less rosy with 12,000 more claimants since March, and while the figures for York are encouraging, we would do well to note that we are bucking the trend. And with many in the city reliant on the public sector for work, the cuts remain a real worry.

There can be no doubt that we are on a long and painful road to recovery, so for now we can only give the improved jobless figures a cautious welcome.

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