Shock as good news hits home

Doom-mongers avert your eyes ... the UK’s jobless rate has fallen.

Those who predicted nought but calamity in the face of a Brexit vote will take little pleasure in being told this good job news.

And make no mistake, the fact that it has plummeted to its lowest rate for 10 years is remarkable.

Couple this with The Office for National Statistics also revealing that wages grew by 2.6% and the Remoaners may find themselves looking elsewhere to locate the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

They may try looking closer to home. Tempering this national good news, it is disappointing to learn that between October and December of last year, the unemployment rate here in the North East went up by 11,000, resulting in a jobless rate of seven per cent – the highest in the UK.

Still, more than 31.8 million adults are in a job in the UK – 300,000 more than a year ago – after a quarterly rise of 37,000, while unemployment fell by 7,000 to just under 1.6 million.

That figure is the lowest since the start of 2006, giving a jobless rate of 4.8%, one of the lowest in Europe.

ONS senior statistician David Freeman said: “Continued moderate growth in employment has led to a new high in the total employment rate, while the rate for women has reached 70% for the first time on record.

“Overall, the labour market appears to be edging towards full capacity.”

But such optimism needs to be tempered by the recent regional increases in those seeking work, including our own.

The figures are encouraging, but should serve as another reminder to the powers-that-be, that much more needs to be done to achieve parity for the North East as far as work opportunities are concerned.