Unemployment rises as seasonal effects kick in

The number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance has increased slightly by 195 claimants.

Between September and October claimants went up from 9,010 to 9,205. Despite this, the rate of the working age population claiming this out of work benefit remains at 2%. This bucks the UK trend, which has seen a slight decrease of 0.4% over the same period.

However more positively, for the third consecutive month the number of people claiming JSA is lower than a year earlier.

This follows the trend seen nationally although the yearly drop has occurred at a faster rate in Devon than UK average (3.3% decrease compared to 1% for the UK).

Councillor Will Mumford, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Enterprise and Employment, said; "The increase in JSA claimants between September and October is not unexpected given the seasonal nature of Devon's labour market. The yearly comparison still signals signs of recovery, none the less, the months ahead are likely to remain challenging. Hopefully an increase in activity linked to Christmas will help to create some additional job opportunities over the coming months."

In absolute terms youth unemployment has risen  very slightly this month from 2,700 in September to 2,730 in October and represents a 1.1% increase.   

Again, the slight increase in youth unemployment is not unexpected at this time of year as seasonal job opportunities which young people often benefit from will be coming to a close. Across the UK, unemployment has fallen by 2.2% in October.

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