Slight fall in borough’s jobless total

As of June, the jobless total for the borough stands at 1,654 of which the vast majority are men.

Broken down into wards, Dunclug had the highest jobless total of 137 (up by four), closely followed by Ballykeel with 122 (up by five). Ballee was third highest on 119 (down 11 on the previous month).

The ward with the least unemployment as of June this year was Ballyloughan on 29 (up five claimants from the previous month).

Province-wide the unemployment rate has risen slightly in the past month with another 400 people signing on the dole during that period.

According to the survey measurement of unemployment, joblessness in Northern Ireland is now running at 6.9%.

This was up slightly on the previous quarter, but remains below the UK average rate of 8.1%.

In June, the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits stood at 62,900.

The percentage claiming jobseekers’ allowance in Northern Ireland was higher than the UK average and second highest among the 12 UK regions.

Over the past year the number of people signing on in Northern Ireland has risen by 3,200.