Devon's Unemployment Figures Down Year On Year
30th November, 2010
Unemployment in Devon rose for the first time in seven months - but has fallen since this time last year.
The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) climbed from 8,188 in September to 8,215 in October, representing a 0.3 % increase.
This bucks the trend seen regionally and nationally where JSA continued to fall in October - by 1.6 % for the UK and 1 % for the South West.
However, year on year, the Devon figure has fallen by 14.8 % from 9,645 people claiming JSA last October, compared to 10.5 % nationally.
The slight increase in the monthly figures could be due to seasonal employment coming to an end while Christmas-related jobs may not have started in time to reflect October's claimant count.
There were 5,474 new job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus in October, up from 4,332 in August.
Councillor Will Mumford, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Strategic Planning, said: "Although there was a slight rise in the number of unemployed people between September and October, if we look at the bigger picture, we see that compared to last year, the claimant count has fallen quite substantially. The same is true of youth unemployment, which has dropped more than 20 per cent since last year.
"We are going through some tough economic times but these figures show that it is not all bad news. It is also good to see an increase in the number of job vacancies."
East Devon, Mid Devon, South Hams and West Devon have all seen slight decreases in the number of people claiming JSA, with the highest decrease (3.9 %) in Mid Devon. Exeter, North Devon, Teignbridge and Torridge have seen increases in the number of people claiming JSA between September and October. The largest increase was in North Devon (5.2 %).
Youth unemployment figures continued to increase – up approximately 4.4 % since June but down 21 % since last October. This month's fall could indicate that less people are entering full-time education or training or that courses are coming to an end and people are still looking for work.
ENDS
