Hexham Jobs Fair sees results as unemployment drops - claimant count down locally and employment up in the wider North East

A summary of yesterdays latest employment numbers below, covering the period 1 July – 30 September 2015:
The total number of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants in Hexham constituency in October 2015 was 428.

• The number of claimants is 139 lower than in October 2014 and 20 lower than in September 2015.
  There were 100 claimants aged 18-24 in Hexham constituency in October 2015, 65 lower than in October 2014.

Employment in the North East stands at 1,166,000 or 68.3% - an increase of 2,000 over the quarter and 1,000 over the year. This compares to a rate of 73.7% nationally.

• 10,000 fewer 16-24 year olds in the North East are unemployed compared to a year ago, a fall of 18.3%. The youth unemployment rate stands at 22.5%, a fall of 2.3% over the year.
• The pictures below show some of the people who came to our jobs fair, who created jobs and made it happen and one lucky recipient of a local job

New employment statistics show our plan for a high-employment and high wage economy is working.

Today’s figures are excellent news. At 73.7 per cent our employment rate has never been higher and we are moving towards the goal of full employment that we committed to in our manifesto.  

With full-time employees making up three quarters of the increase in employment over the past year and wages rising three per cent, it is clear that our plan for a high-employment and high-wage economy is working.

But we cannot rest. We have over 700,000 job vacancies showing we have an opportunity to help unemployed people back into work. And we must guarantee our economy creates new jobs by ensuring we have a government that lives within its means and our economic recovery is sustained.

Key statistics

Employment: 31.21 million (up 419,000 over the past year and up over 2.1 million since 2010).

• Employment rate: 73.7 per cent (up 0.7 points over the past year and up 3.5 points since 2010).

• Unemployment: 1.75 million (down 210,000 over the past year and down 760,000 since 2010).

• Unemployment rate: 5.3 per cent (down 0.7 points over the past year and down 2.6 points since 2010).

• Claimant count (Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit not in work): 795,500 in October (down 139,100 on last year and down 699,300 since 2010).

• Wages: average total pay rose by three per cent over the last year. Inflation over the same period was close to flat.

Other useful statistics:

 The employment rate is at the highest in our history - at 73.7 per cent of people aged 16-64.

• Unemployment has fallen to a seven year low – at 5.3 per cent
• There are more women in work than ever before with 975,000 more women in work since 2010, and the number of unemployed women down by 80,000 over the year.
• Youth unemployment is at its lowest level since early 2006, and the employment rate for young people who have left full-time education is up to 74.3 per cent, the highest in more than a decade
• Among older people (50-64), employment is up 72,000 on the quarter and 234,000 on the year to a record 8.3 million.

• The number of long-term unemployed people has fallen by 25 per cent in the last year to 514,000 – the lowest level in six years

• Vacancies were at 736,000 in the three months to October, up 37,000 on the year and 274,000 since 2010.
  Labour always try and tell Britain that all these jobs are part-time, insecure and poorly paid – in fact:

• Three-quarters of the growth in employment since 2010 has been full-time.
• Only 2.4 per cent of people in work are on zero-hours contracts. Unlike the last Labour Government, who did nothing, we have taken action to clamp down on abuses by banning exclusivity contracts.  
• Real wages are rising strongly.