The employment rate in the South West is at a “near record high” of 76.5% even though the number of people claiming benefits continues to rise, new figures reveal.
The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) statistics show that 2.73million people are in work in the South West, with an employment rate higher than the UK’s 75.3%.
That is 20,000 higher than the figure given by the Government in September.
The unemployment rate for the region, 4.1% equalling 17,000 people, is also lower than that of the nation as a whole, which stands at 4.8% and has gone up by 0.3% in a month.
But the figure dates from October, before the end of the Job Retention “furlough” Scheme, which closed on October 31 but was then extended until March 2021.
And the DWP revealed the number of people claiming Universal Credit (UC) in the West Country was 435,448 in October, a rise of 4,155. The figure is more than double the number of claimants a year ago
In Plymouth the figure had grown from 26,643 to 26,947. The figure in pre-lockdown March was 16,050.
Exeter’s claimant count rose from 8,641 to 8,736 in October. In Cornwall the number claiming UC increased from 48,382 to 48,591. Torbay saw the claimant count rise from 13,566 to 13,707.
Nationally, redundancies rose to a record high of 314,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Firms gave workers their cards in anticipation of the end of the furlough scheme, before it was extended. Analysts said the extension had come "too late in the day" to save some jobs and further big rises in unemployment were likely in the coming months.
Nicky Keast, partnership manager for Plymouth DWP, said the claimant count figures may be still “going the wrong way” but were not as bad as anticipated, and an increase is usually seen at this time of the year when seasonal employment ends.
And the DWP stressed there are still jobs that need filling, including a “critical” situation in the care sector, because the coronavirus pandemic may dissuade people from taking jobs.
Ms Keast said that in Plymouth alone there are 1,656 jobs being advertised. The large areas of demand include for delivery drivers, warehouse staff, and retail assistants to provide Christmas cover for the likes of Tesco, the Co-operative, Aldi, Next and The Range.
But the main area for unfilled jobs is in care and Ms Keast said: “We struggle to find people to apply for care vacancies. We have set up a Care Forum to work with care providers in the city and look at vacancies. The situation is critical.”
The DWP has even set up a Twitter jobs fare for care on November 12, which can be accessed by looking at @jcpinplymouth, and Ms Keast said: “A lot of employers are coming in for that.”
She also stressed that the construction industry in Plymouth is also looking to recruit and that Babcock International Plc, which operates Devonport Dockyard, is continuing its recruitment of 145 apprentices, to start with the firm in September 2021.
