Hundreds of Shropshire jobseekers return to work

The number of people who are claiming jobseeker's allowance in the Shropshire Council area fell to 2,409 in March – down from 2,510 in the previous month.

Meanwhile, in the Telford & Wrekin Council area, the number of people who are signing on dropped from 2,147 to 2,056. It leaves the percentage of people claiming the benefit in the two authorities at 1.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.

Powys also enjoyed an improvement in its fortunes after rises in claimant numbers in the previous two months, with 1,021 people signing on, down from 1,057 in February – a claimant rate of 1.3 per cent.

Nationally, unemployment continued to fall and a record 31 million people are in work.

The national jobless total fell by 76,000 to 1.84 million in the quarter to February, the lowest for almost seven years.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance around the country mirrored that of Shropshire, with a decline of 20,700 in March to 772,400 – the 29th consecutive monthly cut.

The national JSA claimant rate is two per cent, and in the West Midlands it stands at 2.5 per cent.

Other data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that more than 31 million people were in work after an increase of more than half a million in the past year, the biggest total since records began in 1971.

The UK's unemployment rate is now 5.6 per cent, a fall of 1.3 per cent since a year ago.

The rate was 7.9 per cent in May 2010, when the last general election was held.

Around 1.3 million people were in part-time jobs when they wanted full-time work, up by 29,000 in the latest quarter, while self-employment was little changed at 4.5 million.

The number of people classed as economically inactive, including those looking after a relative, those who are on long-term sick leave or those who have given up looking for work, fell by 104,000 to just under nine million.

Average earnings increased by 1.7 per cent in the year to February, 0.2 per cent down on the previous month.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The latest figures continue to highlight the dynamism and resilience of the UK labour market."

At constituency level, Ludlow has 454 claimants (down from 474, a claimant rate of 0.9 per cent), Montgomeryshire has 535 (557, 1.4 per cent), North Shropshire has 959 (972, 1.5 per cent), Shrewsbury and Atcham has 912 claimants (975, 1.4 per cent), Telford has 1,451 (1,520, 2.5 per cent) and The Wrekin has 689 (716, 1.2 per cent).