THE number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in the Chichester area has risen, according to latest figures.
In December last year 1,412 people were signed on, reversing the downward trend which saw claims fall from a summer high: previous figures showed that 1,369 people were receiving JSA in November.
The local rise is in line with an increase in the number of claimants nationally, revealed by the Office for National Statistics. But figures from last summer showed just two percent of the adult population were unemployed.
Claims are most common in the 25 to 49 age bracket, though younger jobseekers in the area aged 16 to 24 still face greater economic difficulty than the oldest group, aged 50 to 64.
The latest national statistics also showed an increase in the unemployment rate, to 8.4 percent, for September to November last year.