Women push up jobless total

AN increase in the number of women out of work in Oldham has forced up the unemployment figures for June.

There are now 2,155 women on the unemployment register, a rise of 62 on April. This compares with a fall of 18 in the number of jobless men, down to 4,837.

Overall, the number of people out of work in Oldham is 6,992, the fourth highest in Greater Manchester.

Nationally, unemployment has fallen by 88,000, the biggest quarterly fall in more than a decade, taking the jobless total to 2.43 million. But the number claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance jumped by 19,600 last month to 1.49 million, the worst figure for more than a year.

Economic inactivity also increased, up by 39,000 in the three months to April to reach 9.37 million, more than a fifth of the working age population.

Government hopes that private firms will create jobs as posts are cut in the public sector were given a boost with news that employment in the private sector increased by 104,000 in the first three months of the year to 23 million.

At the same time, public-sector employment fell by 24,000 to 6.1 million and the decline would have been bigger but for the 15,000 temporary jobs created to deal with the Census.