More Wearsiders are out of work despite rising NE job figures

More Wearsiders are out of work compared to a year ago, despite employment figures across the region hitting a near high.

While the North East employment rate stands at 1.2million and joblessness remains at an 11-year low, the latest statistics show 5,620 people were out of work last month - an increase of 595 compared to December 2015. The Department for Work and Pensions has said the reason for the change is because Christmas recruitment began earlier in 2015, as well as the rise and fall in the cycle of employment.

A series of projects are under way, including myth busting sessions about what it is like to work in a contact centre in conjunction with Doxford Park-based Parseq, while companies who head up attractions, such as Alnwick Garden, and holiday parks like Haggerston Castle, are beginning to draft in workers for later in the year.

Jobcentre Plus has also been working with B&M to take on 30 new workers at its relocated store at Pallion Retail Park, while the organisation went in to support BHS workers who lost their jobs when the firm went into liquidation.

Marston’s, which will launch a pub at Dalton Park in Murton, is also beginning to look at filling jobs it will create once it is built.

Steve McCall, employer relationship manager for Jobcentre Plus, said: “The figures will bump up and down year on year because of a number of factors, and one of those which has been noticeable from these figures is that Christmas recruitment began later last year.

“We will also begin to see a difference in figures because of Universal Credit, so we are now starting to see people we wouldn’t have seen before. “