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Gloucestershire Business News

Continued rise of unemployment rate

The latest figures for the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Gloucestershire show another year-on-year rise.

Data from the Department of Work and Pensions for the local authority areas shows the pattern to be countywide, with young people (those aged between 18 and 24) worst affected.

Cheltenham saw a rise of eight per cent (116 people), Gloucester nine per cent (185), Stroud four per cent (42), the Cotswsolds five per cent (35), the Forest of Dean five per cent (52) and Tewkesbury between nine per cent (75).

For young people the picture was grimmer, with a nine per cent (21 young people) in Cheltenham, 44 per cent (132), six per cent in Stroud (eight), 11 per cent in the Cotswolds (10) and 15 per cent in the Forest of Dean (26) and up by 15 per cent in Tewkesbury (19).

In Cheltenham there were 1,504 claimants in total, 257 of which were young people, in Gloucester 2,307, of which 429 were young people, in Stroud 1,054, of which 152 were between 18 and 24, in the Cotswolds 754, of which 102 were young people, in the Forest of Dean 1,179, of which 205 were young people and in Tewkesbury 934, of which 143 were young people.

Taking a long term view the county still has a lower claimant count than it did five years ago - in the region of 24 to 27 per cent fewer.

For the South West the rate was up seven per cent and nationally it there was a rise of six per cent, but the rate for those employed increased 0.9 per cent.

According to the DWP 81-plus per cent of the working population in the region is in employment. The highest regional rate in the country.

In July Punchline reported how the unemployment rate for young people in Gloucestershire year-on-year had risen by more than 20 per cent.

Read more: Youth unemployment in Gloucestershire jumps more than 20 per cent 

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