Jobless numbers fall

JOBLESS numbers in Oldham continued to fall this month with figures showing a reduction in Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants of 77 — bucking the national trend.

The total number of claimants for June was 2,382, down from 2,459 in May. Male claimants fell from 1,488 to 1,446 while female claimants reduced from 971 to 936.

The figures for claimants, including universal credit, fell by 66 from 4,509 in May to 4,43 in June.

Figures showed that 12,500 new positions have been created in Oldham since 2010 with further jobs on the horizon.

Louise Doyle, Oldham’s Job Centre manager, said: “The figures are encouraging and there are a lot of exciting things to come.

“New businesses, including TJ Hughes, will add many more jobs to the area and we have seen an increase in self-employment.

“We are also promoting apprenticeships and we have a festival of jobs and careers events in August.”

Nationally, the number of jobless increased by 15,000 to 1.85 million in the three months to May, the first quarterly increase since the three months to March, 2013.

The unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent after sinking to 5.5 per cent in the three months to April.