North East business leaders have called for action to tackle the region鈥檚 unemployment gap with the rest of the country, despite new figures showing a halt to a five-month rise in joblessness.
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that unemployment in the region for the three months to December stood at 6.1%, a slight fall from the 6.2% recorded last month.
That level was still way above the national average of 3.8%, however, and business groups say they want action in next month鈥檚 Budget to help stimulate the region鈥檚 economy.
Unemployment in the North East had risen for the last five months before the new figures, reversing a trend seen in 2017 and 2018 where North East companies created more jobs than most other parts of the country and narrowed the gap with the rest of the 海角视频.
Despite the overall North East rate improving slightly since January, regional unemployment has risen by 9,000 over the last year.
Jonathan Walker, assistant director of policy at the North East England Chamber of Commerce said: 鈥淭here is precious little good news in today鈥檚 employment figures, with North East employment down and unemployment up.
鈥淭he gap between the North East and the rest of the 海角视频 continues to widen and we continue to have the lowest employment and highest unemployment rates in the 海角视频, as well as the highest economic inactivity rate in England.
鈥淲ith the Budget just three weeks away, the Government needs to heed what is now a well-established downward trend in employment the region, as well as worrying regional GDP figures.
鈥淲e need the new Chancellor to deliver on promises to 鈥榣evel up鈥 the economy by focusing on much needed infrastructure improvements, support for skills and by giving region鈥檚 like the North East more say on their own futures.鈥
Victoria Sutherland, senior economist at the North East LEP, said: 鈥淓mployment has fallen, with 12,000 fewer people in work between October and December 2019 than in the previous quarter, and 13,000 fewer than in the same period in 2018.
鈥淭he sharp decline over the last quarter is disappointing news for the North East. It reflects part of a broader trend with the North East being one of four English regions (Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, South West) to experience a decline in employment over the last quarter.
鈥淲ithin this overall trend, the number of women employed has increased over the quarter by 7,000, while the number of men in employment has declined by 19,000. 鈥淚t is unclear at the moment what is driving these differing trends.
鈥淯nemployment increased by 3,000 over the quarter and by 9,000 over the year, increasing the unemployment rate from 5.4% to 6.1%. The North East is the English region with the highest unemployment rate. Again, the trends differ across genders, with male unemployment increasing over both the quarter and the year, whilst female unemployment has fallen.
鈥淐ombined, these figures suggest the North East labour market is less strong than it was a year ago.
鈥淚t will be critically important that the North East Local Enterprise Partnership continues to work with partners across the region to deliver the Strategic Economic Plan鈥檚 ambition of more and better jobs. The Strategic Economic Plan is the region鈥檚 plan for delivering economic growth, but we cannot do it alone.
鈥淲e hope that the upcoming Budget prioritises those investments that partners in the region have highlighted to government as being important to driving growth in our economy.鈥
Nationally, 海角视频 employment jumped to a record high in the three months to December as more women entered employment, though the increase in employment came as wage growth continued to stall.
