The latest claimant count figures for the East Hampshire constituency show that the number of residents claiming unemployment-related benefits remains low at 2.2%, as compared to the UK average of 4.3%.
The figures, published this week by the Office of National Statistics, reveal that this month there has been a small uplift in the number of individuals claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit. The claimant rate for the previous month was 2% (compared to a UK average of 3.9%).
Responding to the latest figures, Damian Hinds said:
“These latest indicators show that, while there is some increase in East Hampshire’s claimant count, local unemployment is still low. This comes amidst a national picture of overall unemployment being still low by historical standards, if not quite at the modern-period low point reached a couple of years ago.”
The ONS has also revealed that average wages increased in real terms in the three months to June by over 2% and in nominal terms by over 4%.
ENDS
For more information: contact Victoria Mackenzie [email protected], Tel - 020 7219 2711
Notes to editors
- The latest ONS dataset can be accessed here: Constituency data: people claiming unemployment benefits (parliament.uk)
- The claimant count refers to the number of people who were claiming unemployment-related benefits. This includes those who were claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or were claiming Universal Credit and are required to seek work.
- The claimant count is not the percentage of unemployed people in a constituency (for example, some unemployed people do not claim a related benefit) although it is the closest indication of unemployment in a given area.
- In July there were 1,185 claimants in the East Hampshire constituency, which equates to 2.2% of the population aged 16-64.
- There were 160 claimants aged 18-24.
- The claimant count relates to the parliamentary constituency of East Hampshire rather than the district authority.