Unemployment Falls By 11,000 In The North East

12 September 2012, 10:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

New stats out show there were 11,000 fewer people out of work in the North East in the 3 months between May and July.

There are now 134,000 unemployed people in the region - a fall of around 8% on the previous 3 months.

It's also 4,000 fewer than this time last year.

8,000 fewer men are out of work in the North East - 81,000 in total.

And for women there's been a drop of 3,000 on the previous quarter - down to 53,000. 

BUT, the North East still has the highest rate of unemployment in the country, with 10.4% of the region's population without a job.

Nationally unemployment fell by 7,000 to 2.59 million - which means 8.1% of the population are unemployed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number claiming jobseekers allowance last month was 1.57 million, down by 15,000 on July - the largest monthly fall since June 2010.

London accounted for 5,500 of the fall in the so-called claimant count, suggesting a jobs boost from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Other figures revealed the number of part-time workers increased by 134,000 to reach 8.12 million - the highest since records began in 1992.

The number of Britons working part-time because they can't find a full-time job also hit a record high of 1.42 million. The ONS also revealed that public sector employment fell for the eleventh quarter in a row, by 235,000 to 5.7 million.