Job Centre sign:

A rise in those claiming Job Seekers Allowance

Figures for unemployed claimants came out this morning which show that 3,701 people on the Isle of Wight were claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) in December 2012.

Unemployment Benefit figures released by the Office for National Statistics show a rise of 223 since November, which reported 3,478 JSA claimants, and a rise of 29 from December 2011 (3,672).

That means 4.4% of the resident population of area aged 16-64 is claiming JSA – 2% more than the rest of the South East (2.4%), and 0.7% more than the whole of the UK (3.7%).

Unusually the number of unfilled Job Centre vacancies has not been updated.