UNEMPLOYMENT rose rapidly across the district last month – but Jobcentre Plus insists there are plenty of work opportunities available.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit benefits for unemployment reasons was 9,255 last month – compared to 8,790 in June.

Heather Barraclough, employer and partnership manager at Jobcentre Plus, blamed seasonal factors for the change and pointed out that the July figure was less than the same time last year.

"It is quite a jump month on month," she said. "But with these figures, at a local level, you cannot compare them one month to the next. At this time of year you have graduates and students – that type of factor.

"We look at the same month last year, which will have had the same seasonal factors. So there was actually a fall of ten per cent compared to 2015.

"We are told that is how to judge the accuracy and the trend.

"The number of 18-to-24-year-olds out of work has also fallen ten per cent from last year."

Mrs Barraclough added there were 740,000 vacancies across Yorkshire and the Humber, with jobs also popping up in Europe, and Christmas work being advertised.

"We are looking at what we can do to support people," she said. "It is about being flexible and responsive to the opportunities."

South Craven MP Julian Smith said 139,000 more people were now in work across Yorkshire and the Humber than in 2010.

He added that in his Skipton and Ripon constituency, the number claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit while not in employment had fallen by 667 – or 64 per cent – in those six years.

And he said employment levels nationally were at a record 74.5 per cent.

"The figures show that employment is growing across all the regions and nations of the United Kingdom," said Mr Smith.

"Nevertheless, we aren't complacent, which is why we're pressing ahead with welfare reforms like Universal Credit making sure that it always pays for people to be in work."