Mike Hall MP

Labour Party | Weaver Vale

Unemployment continues to fall

18 December 2007

Numbers claiming unemployment benefit fall for the fourteenth month in a row to reach its lowest level for over thirty years.

New figures out this week show unemployment continuing to fall, with 11,000 fewer people claiming unemployment benefit than this time last month, record numbers in work and the number of vacancies in the UK economy swelling to 680,000.

At the same time over 250 businesses have now committed to working with government to form Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs), helping longer term benefit claimants move off welfare and into work.

Mike Hall MP said:-

"It’s great to see the number claiming unemployment benefit fall for the fourteenth month in a row to reach its lowest level for over thirty years.  Work is the best route out of poverty and with over 250 companies working with us, more long-term benefit claimants can fill some of the 680,000 job vacancies.

"Under the Tories too many people were being written off, their talents wasted and skills ignored. Today, they are opposing the very measures that have helped move people from benefit and into work such as tax credits and the New Deal.

"Now these people are among the record numbers in work, contributing to the economy and supporting their families."