Oldham’s jobless total rises to 7,469

A SLIGHT increase in the number of men out of work has kept Oldham in line with national trends.

The pre-festive figures, released yesterday, revealed there were 7,469 unemployed people in the borough in December, 2011, a rise of 27. This was due to a rise of 38 men — up to 5,056 compared with a fall of 11 women, to 2,413.

The trend, although the first such rise in three months, is likely to continue now seasonal contracts have come to an end.

Nationally, unemployment reached a 17-year high after a 118,000 increase in the jobless total, which saw a record number of young people out of work.

The figure jumped to 2.68million in the three months to November, 2011, the worst since the summer of 1994, giving the UK a jobless rate of 8.4 per cent.

Unemployment in the North-West increased by 25,000. The Office for National Statistics showed that a total of 307,000 people were unemployed in the region between September and November, 2011.

Across the UK, the number of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds increased by 52,000 over the quarter to 1.04 million, the highest since records began in 1992 and the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in December increased by 1,200 to 1.6million — the highest for a year after the 10th consecutive monthly rise.

Other figures showed that almost a million working days were lost in November as a result of the public sector pensions strike, the highest figure since 1989.