Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that 3,060 people in the Isle of Wight area were claiming ‘out of work benefits’ (wording defined by ONS) during March 2023 – these figures also include Universal Credit figures.
That’s a rise of 85 since February 2023, when there were 2,975 claimants, and a fall of 260 from March 2022 (3,320 JSA claimants).
Breakdown of claimants
Of those claiming in March 2023:
- 1,725 were male (1,735 last month)
- 1,335 were female (1,290 last month)
- 5 were 16-17 (10 last month)
- 575 were aged 18 To 24 (565 last month)
- 340 were aged 18 To 21 (345 last month)
- 1,675 were aged 25 To 49 (1,600 last month)
- 810 were aged 50+ (790 last month)
That means 3.9 per cent of the resident population of area aged 16-64 is claiming out of work benefits – 1 per cent more than the rest of the South East (2.9 per cent), and 0.1 per cent more than the whole of the UK (3.8 per cent).
Image: dragontomato under CC BY 2.0
