THE number of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance (JSA) in the region has fallen for the third month in a row, despite a small national rise in unemployment.

New figures from the Office of National Statistics showed almost 1.6 million people claimed JSA in May, including 165,599 people in Yorkshire and The Humber, almost five per cent of the region’s adult community.

Although the national figure had risen by more than 8,000, local figures showed the total number of claimants had fallen in the last month. In North Yorkshire, there were 9,433 claimants in May, 225 fewer than the previous month, and down 691 on 2011.

In York, 3,421 people claimed JSA, down 51 from April and 101 from 2011, while in Selby, 1,603 people claimed in May, 34 fewer than in April, and down 104 from last year, Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said: “I’m very pleased that for the third month in a row unemployment is down in the constituency.

“If we think about the fact that there are more people coming off out of work benefits because of the reforms we’re making to welfare, that’s extremely positive. If that’s coming downand we’re taking people out of the benefits system, it tells me the reforms are working.”

Nationally, there was also a small rise in employment among those aged 16 to 64, with 29.28 million people in employment aged 16 and over in employment, but there were 2.61 million unemployed.

Councillor Steve Shaw-Wright said: “Our hope is that the new marina development and and Olympia Park will create some temporary jobs during construction and some long term higher end retail jobs on completion. It’s nice to have a small number of jobs with the smaller companies, but we just need a little oomph, a larger company to create a lot.”