Almost a fifth of people in Telford are out of work and on benefits, new figures reveal today. They show 16 per cent of the town’s population are relying on state help to fight the credit crunch.

That is some 8,511 unemployed on benefits.

The statistics were obtained by the Tories who said unemployment figures were masking the true cost of the recession.

In addition to jobseeker’s allowance, many people are also on incapacity benefit and income support.

When these are also taken into account, the national jobless figure quadruples to 4.5 million, they said.

Across Shropshire, this means 10 per cent of the population in The Wrekin (5,826) and North Shropshire (5,698) constituencies are living on unemployment benefits. Nine per cent of residents in Shrewsbury and Atcham (5,208) and eight per cent in Ludlow (4,440) are in the same situation.

Some of the hardest hit wards in the country are in Liverpool, Wales and Birmingham, where almost a third of the community are such claimants.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said: “We should have helped many of these people back into work years ago when there were plenty of jobs. With unemployment soaring the task of welfare reform will be even more challenging but certainly not one we should back away from.”

The Government has announced plans to give businesses “golden hellos” of up to £2,500 for every person they recruit and train who has been out of work for more than six months.

Unemployment is predicted to hit three million by the end of the year.