8.4 % of workers are claiming dole

THE level of dole claimants in Londonderry is now 8.4 per cent of working age people - the rate having risen once again over September.

Economists last year predicted unemployment would peak at 8 per cent in Londonderry in 2011 but the latest figures show it rose from 8.2 per cent of working age people in August to 8.4 per cent in September.

The dole rate is now creeping perilously close to the 9 per cent high experienced in 1998.

According to the latest labour market figures published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETINI): “The highest rates at September 2011 were in Derry (8.4 per cent), Belfast (7.2 per cent), Limavady (7.2 per cent) and Strabane (7.2 per cent).

“Those that showed the highest percentage increase in levels over the year to September 2011 were Ballymoney (10.0 per cent), North Down (9.5 per cent) and Derry (9.2 per cent).”

The new statistics reveal a more dire picture than that contained in last year’s ‘Today and Tomorrow’ report produced by Oxford Economics on behalf of Ilex which stated: “Over the decade to 2008, Derry~Londonderry’s claimant unemployment rate halved to under 5 per cent.

“However it remained significantly above the NI average. The recession has reversed much, though notably not all of the recent unemployment falls.

“We estimate unemployment rates to peak in 2011 at around 8 per cent compared to 5.3 per cent for NI (unemployment currently stands at 7.7 per cent in Derry~Londonderry in September 2010).”

Last year’s report did, however, allow for a higher peak than 8 per cent noting that the latest claimant unemployment data prior to the paper’s publication in autumn 2010 suggested peaks for both the city’s and NI’s unemployment rates could be even higher.