Unemployment Down By 2,000 In The North East

12 November 2014, 09:38 | Updated: 12 November 2014, 09:44

New figures show unemployment in the North East's fallen by 2,000 in the 3 months between July and September.

The Office For National Statistics have released the figures, which show there were 118,000 people without a job in the region.

That's down by 10,000 compared to this time last year.

The unemployment rate in the North East is still the highest in the country though - at 9.2%.

Nationally, there's been a further fall in unemployment.

The number of people out of work dropped by 115,000 between July and September to 1.96 million.

The jobless rate stayed at 6%, though.

Meanwhile average earnings in the year to September, excluding bonuses, rose by 1.3% - that's more than inflation.

The figures come as the Northern TUC have told us only one in every 40 jobs created since the recession has been for a full-time employee.

The union said the share of all full-time jobs had fallen from 64% in 2008 to 62%, equivalent to a shortfall of 669,000 full-time workers.

Despite the recent economic growth, the number of part-time workers who want full-time hours is double what it was before the recession, at 1.3 million..

General secretary Frances O'Grady said:
"While more people are in work, there are still far too few full-time employee jobs for everyone who wants one. It means many working families are on substantially lower incomes as they can only find reduced hours jobs or low-paid self-employment.

The Chancellor has said he wants full employment, but that should mean full-time jobs for everyone who wants them. At the moment the economy is still not creating enough full-time employee jobs to meet demand.''