Local MPs, Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland, have welcomed the latest statistics which show unemployment across Swindon has fallen by more than 60% the since General Election.
Across the country, more than 1.8 million people have found work since May 2010 and 95% of the jobs started in the last year were full time. Importantly, the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.8% (down from 8% in 2010), reaching the independent Office of Budget Responsibility’s target more than two years early.
The Office for National Statistics has released it's monthly update which show that unemployment is down by 61.3% and youth unemployment has fallen by around 61.8% across the two constituencies which cover Swindon since May 2010. This means that 2,960 people across Swindon have found employment and the security that comes with a regular pay cheque and 7,400 more people across the town are employed today than four years ago.
Justin Tomlinson MP said: "Once again we have seen the welcome news that unemployment across Swindon is falling. With both unemployment and youth unemployment down by more than 60% since May 2010 and the progress of the town centre regeneration, these re exciting times for our town!"
Robert Buckland MP said: "This is hugely encouraging news and confirms that we are on the right track with regards to employment and growth. Swindon is a thriving town with more people finding work each day and we cannot afford to put all of that at risk"
Key achievements under this Government:
- Employment: 30.8 million (up 512,000 on the year – 1,400 jobs created every day - and up 1.75 million since May 2010).
- Employment rate: 73% (up 2.7% since May 2010).
- Unemployment: 1.91 million (down 418,000 on the year and down 596,000 since May 2010).
- Unemployment rate: 5.8% (down 0.2% this quarter and down 2.1% since May 2010).
- Claimant count: 886,200 (down 26,800 on December and 350,000 on the year - the 26th consecutive fall) – the lowest level since June 2008.
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Wages: regular pay is up 1.8% on the year and private sector pay is up 2.1%. Inflation measured by the CPI increased by 1.2% over the same period.
Other useful statistics: including full-time jobs, youth unemployment and long-term unemployment
- Nearly 2.2 million people are employed in the private sector since the election – the increase in private sector employment is over five times the fall in public sector jobs.
- Over 75% of the number of people in work since the election are in full-time jobs (up 1.3 million since 2010) – full-time jobs accounted for 95% of the rise in employment over the past year.
- Youth unemployment has fallen by 171,000 on the year and the number of young people claiming out-of-work support is at its lowest level since the 1970s
- Long-term unemployment (over 12 months) is down 104,000 since the election.
- Since 2010, two thirds of the rise in employment has been in higher skilled occupations.
- The number of women in work and female employment rate are both at a record high of 14.4 million and 68.2%.
- The number of people claiming the main unemployment benefit is at its lowest level since July 2008.
- The number of vacancies is 700,000 – rising by 127,000 in the last year alone.
- There are now a quarter of a million more disabled people in work in Britain this year compared to last and the disability employment rate has increased by 2.5% - the largest year-on-year increase in a decade.
Below are a series of graphs showing the falls in unemployment and youth unemployment across Swindon since May 2010 (Source: Office of National Statistics)
