Bradford trend in contrast to national fall in unemployment (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford trend in contrast to national fall in unemployment

9:19am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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The number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in Bradford is rising but at a slower rate than other areas in the Leeds city region.

Official monthly figures released yesterday show there were 16,305 people claiming jobseekers allowance (JSA) across Bradford in the latest February count, compared with 16,189 people in January.

A breakdown reveals 16,305 people across Bradford have been on benefits for more than a year and 10,870 people have claimed for less than six months.

More than 9,000 of the claimants are between 25 and 49, 4,700 are between 18 and 24, and 2,285 are 50 or over.

The 0.7 per cent increase across Bradford is lower than the 1.1 per cent increase across the Leeds City Region and the 1.6 per cent increase in claimant count in Kirklees and Leeds.

Councillor Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council executive member with responsibility for regeneration, said: “I am disappointed there has been an increase but I am pleased that it has not been as large as the rest of the region.

“Our main focus is keeping unemployment down and we will keep tackling this.”

Nationally the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance fell by 32,300 to 1.59 million in February.

Unemployment stood at 2.45 million for the three months to January, down 33,000 on the figure for the previous three months.

Bradford North MP Terry Rooney, chairman of the Commons Work and Pensions committee, said a trend had developed: He said: “This is the fourth month claimant counts have gone down.”

Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The fall in unemployment for the third month in a row is very welcome, but we should remain cautious.”