'New jobs still being created in Shropshire' despite unemployment rise
Job Centre bosses insist that new jobs are still being created across Shropshire, despite a third successive rise in unemployment in the county.
The number of people claiming various forms of unemployment benefit in Shropshire Council's area now totals 1,970, while in Telford & Wrekin the figure is 1,730.
Last month the figures stood at 1,915 and 1,705 respectively, and the latest increase marks the third consecutive increase on the back of a long period of falling numbers.
In Powys, 780 people signed on in September, a fall from 800 the previous month.
But Gareth Niblett, from Bridgnorth's Job Centre, said: "There's no real main reason for the increases.
"We are not seeing lots of redundancies coming through. At the moment the only explanation is that the labour market is buoyant and people are coming on and off the register – what we are seeing is the general turnover.
"It's disappointing that the numbers are going up but from our point of view there are lots of jobs out there, and we are working with lots of employers."
The numbers are now starting to be affected by Christmas employment, and a number of retailers around the county are now taking on additional staff.
Marks & Spencer is advertising 31 positions in Telford and nine in Bridgnorth, Southwater Event Group has 15 roles to fill in Telford, and a new Co-op store in Dawley has just seen 12 vacancies filled.
Shrewsbury too is seeing new positions coming onto the market, with around 80 vacancies being created across the retail market, including with Home Bargains, H Samuel, Thorntons, HMV and New Look.
Shropshire's numbers reflect a changing national picture, and the unemployment total rose by 10,000 in the quarter to August, to 1.66 million, the official figures showed. In the West Midlands, that figure was 3,000 higher at 168,000 for the same period.
The UK claimant count, including those on Jobseeker's Allowance, also increased last month – up by 700 to 776,400. It was the sixth time in the last seven months that the figure has increased.
But employment was up by 106,000 in the latest quarter to almost 32 million, the highest since records began in 1971.
Average earnings increased by 2.3 per cent in the year to August, down by 0.1 per cent on the previous month.
ONS statistician Nick Palmer said: "While there was also a small rise in the headline unemployment level, that was accompanied by more people actively seeking work."
