Fall in number of UC claimants
THE number of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Halton fell from December to January suggesting the borough has been weathering the impact of the pandemic for that month.
Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP) data showed there were 16,517 residents claiming the catch-all benefit in mid December.
This number had fallen to 16,510 by mid-January.
Although not a direct measure of unemployment, the UC count can be interpreted as a broad measure of economic hardship.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed no change in the number of jobseekers in Halton claiming out of work benefits, as the ONS recorded the exact same figure of 5,355 in December and January.
The period included by the data, however, only includes the first two weeks of the latest lockdown, which has now been running for nearly two months.
The year-on-year picture is far more gloomy, rising from 3,180 jobseekers in February 2020 to 5,355, an increase of 68%.
Across the North West the unemployment rate was 4.8%, lower than the UK average of 5.1%.
The DWP said the number of people in workless households in the region has fallen by 200,000 since
April-June 2010.
Gemma Batchelor, of Jobcentre Plus, said multiple schemes are under way at the moment to help people back into work or to take their first steps into long-term employment including Kickstart, which offers paid six-month work placements to young people with the costs to employers covered by the Government.
Firms participating in the project in and around Halton include Dunky’s Day Nursery, Hexagon Recruitment, TRG Logistics and LPW Technology.
Gemma said: “We would encourage all employers in Halton to offer a fully-funded six-month job to young people and if they want to find out more they can go to gov.uk/kickstart.
“We are still seeing lots of vacancies in warehousing, logistics, care and construction in the Halton area.
“Customers can view local vacancies on the JobHelp website or by following @ JCPinMerseyside on Twitter.”
Mims Davies MP, employment minister, said: “Today’s figures highlight the challenges people are still facing, but there are glimmers of hope with employment relatively stable, over 600,000 people moving onto payrolls and hours worked up.
“With the Prime Minister setting out the roadmap to cautiously ease lockdown and the vaccine rollout protecting millions of people, we’re looking ahead to our recovery - our Plan for Jobs is creating new opportunities, boosting skills, and delivering a package of support for people of all ages, getting Brits back into work as we push to build back better.”