Unemployment continues to fall across Horsham

In figures released by Office of National Statistics, the jobless total across the district has fallen by 35 per cent over the past year.

It was also announced there has been a seven per cent fall within the last month of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance, with only 555 people out of work in the area.

The amount of young people in the district without a job has also fallen.

Around 105 young adults, between 18 and 24, are claiming the Jobseekers Allowance, a fall of 32 per cent over the past year.

Paul Niner, partnership manager for the JobCentre Plus in Horsham, said although they expect numbers to be lower around the busy Christmas period he was very happy with the figures.

He said: “It’s good news, the figures are still going down and that is positive news. We expect there to be a decrease around Christmas but it is still very positive. We will be working closely with Horsham District Council to bring in other welfare reforms including Universal Credit sometime next year. We have also just started a project with West Sussex County Council with 16 and 17-year-olds that do not normally claim at the job centre because they are not able to or do not know how. We are absolutely doing all we can to keep these numbers low.”

The figures for the county also show a similar pattern.

The amount of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance in West Sussex over the past year has fallen by 32 per cent.

Around 5,145 people are claiming the allowance which shows a fall of two per cent over the past month.

Youth unemployment is also down by 37 per cent on last year with around 1,055 youngsters out of work in the county.