North East Unemployment Figures
We are delighted to hear that this week rate of unemployment is fewer than 10% in the North East for the first time in more than a year.
Unemployment now sits at 9.5% which is a drop of more than 8,000 people.
Unfortunately our region still has the highest unemployment rate across the UK, the lowest being in the South East.
Across the UK the unemployment figures dropped by 63,000 between November and January to 2.33 million.
Those out of work for over a year is now down by 38,000 to 828,000 while people aged between 16 and 24 without a job is down by 29,000 to 912,000.
These figures are of course left open to interpretation as there are many who are currently on a zero-hour contract who are considered unemployed.
In general - this is excellent news that unemployment figures are continuing to drop.