NUMBER CLAIMING JOB SEEKER'S ALLOWANCE IN YORK FALLS (York Liberal Democrats)

York Liberal Democrats <info@yorklibdems.org.uk>

NUMBER CLAIMING JOB SEEKER'S ALLOWANCE IN YORK FALLS

October 19, 2009 12:00 AM

The number of people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance fell slightly last month. The number of people claiming JSA in September was 3808, compared to 3819 in August.

The figure in York remains lower than the regional and national average, with 3% of the working age population in York claiming JSA, compared to 4.8% in North Yorkshire and 4.2% nationally.

Commenting on the figures Liberal Democrat Council Leader, Councillor Andrew Waller said, "They are a step in the right direction, but we do need to be very cautious about putting too much weight on one month's reduction."

"There are parts of the York economy that are taking on staff, and we need to be doing all that we can to match people with vacancies."

"As a council we are looking at the steps that can be taken to tackle in particular the 18-24 age group which has been hard hit by the downturn in the economy."