The unemployment figures issued this month (June 12) for the Devizes constituency show a continuing improvement in all categories except the long-term unemployed – reflecting the national figures.
The over-all figure for those claiming the jobseekers’ allowance in May was down 4.2 per cent on last year.
However the best news is for those claimants aged between eighteen and twenty-four. The number for May was down 3.5 per cent over the year. But the fall between April and May was 11.3 per cent.
The figures for those claiming for more than twelve months – the ‘long-term unemployed’ – are proving harder to shift. The constituency number of these claimants in May was 22.6 per cent up on the same month last year.
No figures are given for the number of hours worked and nationally the number in part-time work continues to rise. Nationally the number working part-time because they cannot find full-time work was up again on the previous quarter to reach 1,420,000.
Pay is still rising far less than inflation. During February-April 2013 regular pay (which excludes bonuses) increased 0.9 per cent against the same months last year which will, of course, affect the living standards of those in work.
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