Latest labour market figures

LATEST labour market figures have revealed that unemployment in the Ballymena area rose by three per cent in the last month.

The rise represents an increase of 45 claimants in unemployment related benefits over the last month.

Across Northern Ireland as a whole, the month of April showed the first decrease for 27 months in the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits. However, the Northern Ireland unemployment rate increased to 6.7 per cent for the earlier period of January-March 2010.

Meanwhile, unemployment in the Ballymena area has risen by 25.2 per cent over the year.

A total of 1,167 men and 392 women are now claiming unemployment related benefits in the Ballymena area.