Unemployment in London has fallen to its lowest rate for four years as the capital’s robust economy continues to generate tens of thousands of jobs.
The capital’s jobless total fell 17,000 to 365,000 in the three month to January, down 8.5 per cent. Unemployment has not been so low since early 2009 when the impact of the banking crisis began to ravage the economy.
The rate peaked at just over 10 per cent, the second highest rate in the UK, early last year but has fallen rapidly since. The “Olympic effect” is credited with taking thousands off the dole.
However, unemployment continued to fall after the Paralympics closing ceremony last September, with huge pro- jects such as Crossrail helping to gen- erate thousands of construction jobs. In the November to January quarter there were 3.933 million people in work in London — up 71,000 on the previous three months and 201,000 more than a year ago. The biggest year-on-year increases were seen in the professions, such as law and accountancy, and general administrative roles.
The unemployment rate in London is still above the national average of 7.8 per cent but is now below that of the North-East, North-West, the Humber and West Midlands regions and equal with Northern Ireland.
London’s longest dole queues are in Barking & Dagenham, where 6.2 per cent of the working population are signing on for Jobseeker’s Allowance. The shortest are in Richmond, where just 1.7 per cent make a claim.
Rates for claiming JSA are lower than headline unemployment rates because not all those out of work sign on.
