City benefit claims dipped slightly in October

The latest data show the city posted the highest rate of dole claimants at 7.5 per cent of the resident working age population in October - representing a moderate improvement of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.

There was a modest improvement in Limavady and Strabane as well with the latest figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETINI) showing the claimant count rate in Limavady down from 7.1 per cent to 6.8 per cent and in Strabane down from 7 per cent to 6.9 per cent.

Those areas that showed the highest percentage increase in levels over the year to October 2010 were Newry & Mourne (26.5 per cent), Banbridge (24.5 per cent) and Armagh (17.6 per cent).

The statistics also show that across Northern Ireland in October there was an increase of 400 over the month and 4,800 over the year in the number of unemployment benefit claimants.

Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster said: "It was disappointing to note the rise in unemployment levels reported in the latest set of statistics.

"The Northern Ireland labour market is still feeling the effects of the scale of the recent recession, as well as the continued weakness of the Republic of Ireland economy.

"However, it should be noted that the magnitude of the increase in unemployed claimants has slowed considerably in Northern Ireland during the last year.

"The average monthly increase was 400 during this period and this compares with an average monthly increase of some 1,900 persons during the previous 12 months. In addition, the latest Northern Ireland unemployment rate of 7.0 per cent remained below the UK (7.7 per cent), Republic of Ireland (13.9 per cent) and European Union (9.6 per cent) rates."

The Minister continued: "The upcoming draft Budget needs to take account of the fact that we have to preserve the private sector's capacity to be the engine of growth for the future, in so far as this is possible.

"My focus is to ensure that businesses have the support they need to develop the high value added products and services necessary to achieve this. The new budget has to reflect the fact that the economy and private sector growth remain the number one priority for government."