Figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics show that the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants in Wyre Forest in July was 735. This represents a rate of 1.6% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64. The number of claimants is 481 lower than in July 2014 and represents a solid year on year decrease since 2012. Wyre Forest’s claimant rate remains 1.3 percentage points below the West Midlands rate and 1.2 percentage points below the national rate.
Mark Garnier MP expressed his optimism for the remainder of the year: “For the past year we’ve had 39 people a month no longer needing JSA. It might not seem much but that is two people a day, every working day, being hired. That energy only seems to be increasing as businesses become more and more confident about the local and national economy. If we look nationally job vacancies are at a record high, with 735,000 jobs open for applications at any one time. There is still more that can be done to ensure that unemployment keeps falling though. I’m pleased to say that we have begun to see signs that the local labour market is reacting positively to the news that Specsavers and Aldi will be bringing large investments to the area. This looks set to continue to drive the employment boom in the Wyre Forest”.