Good to see that unemployment falling locally as Job Centre's hard work and impact of our recent Hexham Jobs Fair take effect

December’s figures for Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants have been published recently and continue to show Tynedale as a leader in getting people into work. The total number of claimants for the Hexham constituency in December 2015 was 432. This represents a rate of just 1.2% of the economically active population - crucially this is half the wider UK rate at 2.4%.
Full credit to the Job Centre teams who are helping long and short term unemployed back into work. I know that our Hexham Jobs Fair has also helped, and I will be holding another one this year. 

Not only are we doing better than the wider country, but also we are building on our work already done. The total number of claimants was 89 lower than at this time last year. The situation continues to improve for our young people also as the number of claimants fell by 40, from last year, to a present total of 90. That is 40 young people who have a wage packet and a fresh start who did not have it before.
In the North East as a whole unemployment is also down. 

These figures demonstrate how our long term plan is working, and reinforce the importance of safeguarding this economic security for our younger generations. Nationally I should also point out that we now have more people in work in this country than ever before. Noone is complacent, but progress is being made. 

North East is fastest growing northern region

The North East is the fastest growing northern region according to gross value added (GVA) for the year, according to figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Specifically, North East workplace GVA was $47.7bn, an increase on 3.2% on 2013, this compares very favourably to Yorkshire at 2.8%, and the North West at 2.3%. Jonathan Walker, Head of Policy and Campaigns at North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) had this to say: “we are the fastest growing northern region and this undoubtedly shows how integral we are to the development of a Northern Powerhouse. Every day around the world, there is someone who wants a product or service produced in the North East.”
Link to the full article here:
https://bdaily.co.uk/entrepreneurship/09-12-2015/necc-positive-gva-results-for-the-north-east/