Unemployment total drops again

UNEMPLOYMENT has fallen in Oldham for the fifth successive month.

There are currently 7,487 jobless people in the borough; 4,869 men (down 318), and 2,618 women (down 95), totalling 5.3 per cent of the working population, the lowest total since December 2011.

Nationally, long–term unemployment has increased to a 17–year high despite another fall in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, new government figures reveal.