KEIGHLEY’S jobless total has fallen.
Latest quarterly figures show that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in August was 1,845, down by 4.3 per cent on the May total.
The Shipley parliamentary constituency – which includes Cullingworth and Denholme – also saw a drop, by 3.3 per cent, to 1,371.
But according to the Government data, unemployment across the district has risen by more than ten per cent in the past year.
The new statistics, known as the alternative claimant count, have been calculated by the Department for Work and Pensions.
They have been drawn-up to more accurately show the number of people claiming unemployment benefits following the roll-out of Universal Credit.
In Bradford district there were 16,571 people claiming unemployment-related benefits in the latest quarterly figures.
This compares to 14,976 a year ago, an increase of 10.7 per cent. This is also a rise of 1.9 per cent on the data released in May, which saw a total of 16,268 claiming the benefit across the district.
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