Latest jobs figures show steep drop in unemployment

Employment in the North East stands at 1,209,000 or 70.5% – an increase of 10,000 compared to 74.6% nationally.

Unemployment stands at 83,000 or 6.4% – a fall of 4,000 over the quarter and 21,000 over the year – compared to 4.7% nationally.

Job Centre Plus manager Steve McCall told the Gazette: “In the North East in general we’ve seen employment go up a little bit, to 1.21million, which is a new record high for employment in the area.

“Unemployment is 6.4%, which is a reduction of 1.6% on last year.

“That’s the largest percentage drop together with Scotland which also reduced by 1.6%.

“It is a significant fall in the right direction of unemployment.

“We are seeing a good range of vacancies across several sectors, mostly full-time permanent jobs which is obviously good news. It’s been like that for a little while now.

“In this area, we usually see a lot of recruitment from outside South Tyneside, but this time of year a lot of the hospitality places like restaurants and bars in the area start recruiting and we are also targeting the digital and creative sectors.”