THE number of people on the dole in Exeter is continuing to fall, new figures showed.
There were 1,159 people in the city claiming Jobseeker's Allowance last month – a fall of 81 since April and down by 647 on a year ago. Across Devon, the JSA claimant count stands at 5,420 – or 1.2 per cent of the working age population – down from 8,337 the same time last year.
All districts saw a fall in the number of people looking for work last month, apart from West Devon, where the number was unchanged.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of JSA claimants in East Devon fell by 62 to 682 between April and May.
The proportion of working age people claiming unemployment benefit is 0.9 per cent in East Devon and 1.4 in Exeter, 2.4 in Plymouth and three per cent in Torbay. This compares with a South West average of 1.7 per cent and a UK average of 2.7 per cent.
Nationally, the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell by 27,400 to 1.09 million in May. On the wider measure of unemployment, the number of people out of work fell by 161,000 to 2.16 million in the three months to April, meaning the UK unemployment rate now stands at 6.6 per cent.
