Unemployment Falls By 2,000 In The North East

20 February 2013, 10:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

The number of people out of work in the last 3 months of 2012 has fallen by 2,000, according to the Office For National Statistics

A total of 125,000 people were unemployed in the North East between October and December of last year

The region still has the highest rate of unemployment in the country - with 9.7% of people not in work.

Nationally, unemployment fell by 14,000 between October and December to 2.5 million.

The number of people in full-time jobs increased by almost 200,000 at the end of last year to 21.6 million, while part-timers fell by 43,000 to just over eight million.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance has fallen to a near two year low - by 12,500 to  1.54 million. 

Almost 30 million people were in work at the end of 2012, an increase of 154,000 on the quarter to September, and the highest total since records began in 1971.

But youth unemployment, counting 16 to 24-year-olds, rose by 11,000 to 974,000, the biggest increase since the start of last year.