Unemployment down by almost 600 in past year

MP for the area Sammy Wilson said figures made available to him in the House of Commons revealed that unemployment in the constituency fell by 155 last month, and by a total of 574 over the past year.

The unemployment rate now stands at 4.9 per cent of the eligible workforce; those between the ages of 16 and 64.

Welcoming the downward trend, Mr Wilson said: “I believe that this is a result of the policies followed by the NI Executive and in particular our DETI minister Arlene Foster.

“The announcements which she has made at Ryobi in Carrickfergus, the IT sector in Newtownabbey and Wright bus in Ballymena all within the last month and amounting to over 700 new jobs, will contribute to a further all over the next number of months and opens the employment door to many local people.

“There are determined efforts to improve life for citizens across Northern Ireland.

“The big infrastructure projects on the A2, A8 and Gobbins path to which I allocated over £300m when I was Finance Minister, are progressing well and will have long term employment impacts on the area,” Mr Wilson concluded.