Latest employment rate remains at record high

The figures, published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, found that the country’s unemployment rate has remained at its joint lowest since the 1970s, at 4.2 per cent.

Locally, Fareham had the most positive figures with just 550 people accessing JobSeekers’ Allowance – a 50 per cent drop compared to five years ago.

Over the same period, 805 people in Gosport claimed the benefit, a 42 per cent drop, 1,190 in Havant, a 47 per cent drop, and 2,490 in Portsmouth, a 49 per cent drop.

Leone Hill, business development manager at Jobcentre Plus in Portsmouth, said: ‘I’m pleased that across our area unemployment is half what it was five years ago.

‘Jobcentre Plus continues to work with a wide range of businesses, large and small, to fill their vacancies and help our customers into work.’

She encouraged job seekers and businesses to get involved with a jobs fair at Gunwharf Quays today from 11am until 2pm.