New figures released this week show the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in East Hampshire has fallen by 438 – a 56 percent drop – since 2010. The figure is 60 lower than November 2014 and 32 lower than last month.
Damian said:
“We’re fortunate in East Hampshire to enjoy good employment levels, with one of the lowest claimant rates across the UK, but it’s still encouraging to see an on-going downward trend in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, including a fall in the number aged 18-24.”
The total number of people claiming the allowance in the constituency is 341 and that represents only 0.7% of the economically active population, compared to the equivalent rate of 2.4% for the UK as a whole.
Damian continues:
“With a record unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent and a record number of people in work - 31.3 million - we’re now seeing greater economic security for more people, particularly as average pay rose by 2.4% over the last year and continues to grow above inflation.”
Significantly, the proportion of under 25’s who are unemployed and not in full time education is the lowest on record and the number of long-term unemployed has also fallen by 25 per cent in the last year.
Damian concludes:
“There is still more to be done, with the introduction next year of the National Living Wage and 30 hours free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds but the outlook is very positive and particularly welcome at this time of year.”