Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that 2,555 people in the Isle of Wight area were claiming ‘out of work benefits’ (wording defined by ONS) during July 2023 – these figures also include Universal Credit figures.
That’s a fall of 55 since June 2023, when there were 2,610 claimants, and a rise of 20 from July 2022 (2,535 JSA claimants).
Breakdown of claimants
Of those claiming in July 2023:
- 1,465 were male
- 1,090 were female
- 5 were 16-17
- 445 were aged 18 To 24
- 265 were aged 18 To 21
- 1,435 were aged 25 To 49
- 675 were aged 50+
National comparison
That means 3.2 per cent of the resident population of area aged 16-64 is claiming out of work benefits – 0.4 per cent more than the rest of the South East (2.8 per cent), and 0.5 per cent less than the whole of the UK (3.7 per cent).
Image: dragontomato under CC BY 2.0
