Issued by City of York Council
City of York Council has welcomed news today that the number of people claiming Jobs Seekers Allowance (JSA) in York is the lowest recorded since December 2008.
The JSA claimant count for York in November has been recorded as 2,968, according to statistics released by Office of National Statistics today, a decrease of 99 claimants’ from the previous month.
The figures put York’s JSA claimant count at 2.1% of the working age population and much lower than the region at 4.6% and the 3.8% picture nationally.
Year on year, the number of people claiming Jobs Seekers Allowance in York has also decreased, from 3,336 (2.4%) of working age people who claimed in November 2011.
Cllr James Alexander, Labour leader for City of York Council said: “This is good news for York and a trend I hope is set to continue into next year and beyond. What’s particularly good to see is a decrease in the number of 18-24 year olds claiming JSA since just last month, meaning we have the lowest youth unemployment in the region.
“We must continue to work with partners across the city – such as the Jobs Centre Plus and Future Prospects – to provide our residents access to support agencies, education and training providers to give them the best possible chance of gaining employment.”
The ONS figures also highlighted that whilst the number of people claiming JSA long-term has decreased since October 2012, York is still seeing over 700 people accessing JSA over the period of one year.
Kersten England, Chief Executive of City of York Council adds: “Whilst it is still a real concern that people across all age groups in York are having to claim Jobs Seekers Allowance, it is encouraging to see less people needing to claim on a long-term basis in the last month.
“We will continue to work with both private and public sector partners, to help those out of work gain employment in and around York and help ensure that this recent positive trend, on the number of people claiming JSA long-term, continues.”
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