Slight drop in jobless total

THE number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance in Larne increased marginally by six in the past year.

The borough continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in Northern Ireland at 5.6 per cent compared with the regional average 7.3 per cent.

The number of claimants in November actually went down by 14 to a new total of 790. That was against the trend of 300 more people signing on in the Province, although the seasonally adjusted August-October unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent was 0.6 per cent down on the year.

Government figures show that 15,000 of Larne borough’s 31,000 population are economically active, with 11,000 in full-time employment. Nearly 71 per cent of people aged 16-64 years have jobs.