Bath has witnessed the biggest percentage drop in unemployment of all parliamentary constituencies in the UK; Bournemouth follows closely behind.
New figures show that between November 2004 and May 1997 the unemployment tally fell by 75.4% in Bath while in Bournemouth the figure is 73.9%.
Following these top spots are:
- Mid Ulster – 73.8%
- Salisbury – 72.6%
- South West Devon – 71.5%
- Westbury – 71.5%
- Poole – 71.4%
- Wansdyke – 71.3%
- Somerton & Frome – 70.7%
In terms of the fall in numbers of unemployed persons Hackney North & Stoke Newington show the largest fall with unemployment down by -4,595. This was followed by Hackney South & Shoreditch where the number was down by -4,038.
By region, the South West has enjoyed the biggest fall in unemployment, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, Northern Ireland and the North West.
Across the United Kingdom as a whole unemployment has fallen from 1.6 million in May 1997 to 803,029 in November 2004 a drop of -817,467 in percentage terms -50.4%.
Paul Kenny, GMB Senior Official and member of the TUC General Council commented: “The Labour Government’s record on the economy is something that the Labour movement and the entire country can be proud of. Unemployment has halved in the years since May 1997. What a distant echo are the Tory years when all parts of Britain were blighted with over 3 million unemployed. The Government has done a magnificent job in getting the country back to work.”
Despite this good news, the ‘inactivity’ rate for workers is still up but remains unchanged from the last quarter at 21.5%.
Last month the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warned that rosy employment figures mar the record numbers of economically inactive.
The Office of National Statistics figures were analysed by GMB London.
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