NEWS of another fall in the number of people out of work in part of the Craven area has been welcomed by the local MP.

Kris Hopkins, who represents the Steeton and Eastburn, Silsden and Addingham areas, said he was particularly pleased at a drop of more than a third in youth unemployment over the past year.

Figures just published by the Office for National Statistics show that the total number of unemployed claimants in Mr Hopkins' Keighley and Ilkley parliamentary constituency fell by 37 last month to 1,448 – 570 fewer than this time last year.

Meanwhile, youth unemployment in the constituency fell by 15 to 365, a drop of 210 since October 2013.

Nationally, the jobless total dropped by 115,000 between July and September to 1.96 million.

Mr Hopkins said: "I never tire of welcoming news of more new jobs being created in Keighley and Ilkley, and I am especially pleased at the numbers of young people who, over the last year, have been able to enter employment, education or training.

"We have a young and growing demographic in the constituency and it is absolutely vital that our young people are either working or being skilled-up to make a positive contribution to our economy.

"Thanks to the long-term economic plan which we have stuck rigidly to, many new opportunities are being created as we work to create a prosperous and sustainable future for all.

"Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said that the UK is now experiencing real economic growth and has made clear that food and energy prices are falling and driving inflation down.

"At the same time, average wages excluding bonuses are growing by 1.3 per cent – above the latest rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation – with the Bank of England saying it expects average salaries to be rising by two per cent by the end of 2015.

"The years since the 2008 financial meltdown under Labour have been long and hard but, thankfully, the outlook is now greatly encouraging."