I am pleased to update my constituents of the following statistics for September 2015 provided to me by the House of Commons library.
The total number of unemployed claimants in Tewkesbury constituency in September 2015 was 596. This represents a rate of 1.2% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64, the 513th highest of the 650 UK constituencies. (1st = highest claimant rate, 650th = lowest claimant rate.) The equivalent UK claimant rate was 2.5%.
This includes 525 people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and 71 people who were claiming Universal Credit but were not in employment. Some of these Universal Credit claimants may no longer be seeking work.
The total number of claimants (both Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit) is 97 lower than in September 2014 and 5 lower than in August 2015.There were 140 claimants aged 18-24 in Tewkesbury constituency in September 2015, 50 lower than in September 2014. (JSA figures for 18-24 year olds are rounded to the nearest 5).
I welcome further falls in the number of claimants in my constituency and hope we can make further good progress on the matter.