Crawley follows national trend as unemployment falls

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday (March 16) the amount of people out of work in the UK fell by 28,000 over the last quarter, November 2015 to January 2016.

Statistics suggest 31.42 million people were in work in that time period, 478,000 more than a year ago.

The figures for Crawley were just as positive.

According to the statistics for last month (February 2016) around 960 people were out of work in the town.

The total shows an eight per cent reduction on February 2015.

Of these 960 around 165 young people, between 18 and 24, were looking for work in the town, a eight per cent drop on last years total.

However, despite the positive results annually, the figures did show a slight increase over the past month.

According to the ONS 25 more people were out of work in February than in January, an increase of around two per cent. The number of young people seeking work was also up, rising by six per cent.

Simon Hobday, relationship manager at the Jobcentre Plus, explained this was due to temporary Christmas staff being kept on for longer over the festive period and were now coming onto the register.

He said: “There seems to be a slight skew around the top of the register because many have held onto their temporary jobs for longer.

“But we do expect to see a rise in January and February.”

He added the centre was not concerned about the monthly increase and expected the numbers to drop over the Easter period.

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