Jobless toll is down 450

OLDHAM’s jobless total fell by 450 last month — the biggest drop since October, 2007.

The figures, which show that 6,736 people are out of work in the borough — compared with 3,704 three years ago — are the first full month since the new coalition Government took office.

There are 5,030 unemployed men, a drop of 316 on the month, and 1,706 jobless woman, down 134.

This represents 5.1 per cent of Oldham’s working population, the fourth highest in Greater Manchester behind Manchester and Rochdale (both 5.6) and Salford, (5.3).

The lowest is Trafford (3.4) while the regional average is 4.3 per cent and the national average 3.9.

Nationally, the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance fell by 30,900 in May to just under 1.5 million, the fourth consecutive monthly fall.

The figures reveal that, nationally, unemployment is nearing 2.5 million and the number of economically inactive people reached a record high of more than eight million.

Unemployment increased by 23,000 between February and April to 2.47 million.

Long–term and youth unemployment both increased but the most striking figure was a 29,000 rise in people classed as economically inactive to 8.19 million, 21.5 per cent of the working age population.

The figure includes students, people looking after a relative, workers on long–term sick leave, or those who have given up looking for jobs.

The number of people in the long–term sick category rose by 58,000 to 2.07 million in the latest quarter.

The number of people out of work for more than a year increased by 85,000 to 772,000 in the three months to April, while unemployment among 16 to 24–year–olds rose by 11,000 to 926,000.

Other data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number of full–time workers fell by 56,000 while part–timers rose by 61,000.

The number of people working part–time because they could not find a full–time job increased by 45,000 to a record high of 1.08 million, today’s figures revealed.

There was a slight increase of 5,000 in the number of people in employment in the latest quarter, to 28.8 million, but the figure was 213,000 lower than a year ago.

Public sector employment fell by 7,000 in March to 6.09 million, while employees in private firms increased by 12,000 to 22.78 million.