Unemployment increase in Derry and Strabane

The Derry and Strabane council area has the highest level of unemployment in the North.

The number of people in the Derry and Strabane council area who claimed unemployment related benefits between December 2015 and January 2016 increased by 142.

A total of 6,177 men and women claimed unemployment related benefit in the Derry and Strabane council area last month. The figure equates to 6.4 per cent of the working age population.

Further examination of the statistics reveal that of the 6,177 claiming unemployment related benefits in January, 4,274 (9.1 per cent) were male and 1,903 (3.9 per cent) were female.

The average unemployment rate throughout the North for January 2016 was 3.4 per cent, a full three per cent lower than that of the Derry and Strabane council area.

The statistics are not all negative. The number of people who claimed unemployment related benefits in January have decreased by 15.7 per cent over the last 12 months.

The Westminster parliamentary constituency of Foyle, which includes Derry, has the highest level of unemployment in the North (8.4 per cent of the working population claimed unemployment related benefits in January).

There are 18 Westminster parliamentary constituencies in the North; the second worst off constituency was West Belfast (7.7 per cent).