Queues still falling for jobs

Jobless queues have continued to shrink in large areas of the Black Country and Staffordshire, official figures showed today.

This reflects the national trend which has seen the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance falling by 11,100 in November to 813,000, the lowest since the summer of 1974 and the 14th consecutive monthly cut.

At the same time employment has reached a record high, according to the Office of National Statistics, with the total number of people in work standing at over 31 million.

In Wolverhampton the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance fell 67 to 6787, or 4.7 per cent of the working population, while in Dudley it dropped 110 to 5246, or 2.9 per cent.

Sandwell saw a fall of 342 to 7208, or 4.1 per cent, while in Walsall the drop was 120 to 5521, or 3.7 per cent.

In Kidderminster and Wyre Forest the figure fell by just five to 1062, or 1.8 per cent of the working population, while in South Staffordshire it was down by one to 920, or 1.4 per cent.