Number of out-of-work claimants in Peterborough drops by two per cent

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Figures released by the Department of Work and Pensions show the number of Universal Credit claimants dropped to 1,770 people last month for the Peterborough local authority area.

It is a fall of 45 people from the same month last year.

Over the same period, the number of 18 to 24-year-old claimants rose by two per cent to 440 from 430.

The overall fall comes with a growing number of Peterborough companies taking on staff.

These include insurance giant BGL Group, in Orton Southgate, which has 104 vacancies, and the soon to open Metro Bank, in Long Causeway, which is creating 25 jobs, and Middletons Steak House, which will open in Peterborough early next month.

Nationally, unemployment has fallen by 57,000 people - an unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent - its lowest since 1975.