Oxfordshire's jobless rate is one of the lowest in the country. (From Witney Gazette)

Oxfordshire's jobless rate is one of the lowest in the country.

7:46am Thursday 14th December 2006 in Witney By Maggie Hartford

THE number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in Oxfordshire rose slightly, official figures showed yesterday.

In Britain as a whole, however, unemployment has fallen for the first time in 18 months, as thousands more people found jobs in over the past month.

November figures from the Office for National Statistics show 17 more people joined Oxfordshire's claimant count, which was up from 4,221 to 4,238. The figure is 20 per cent higher than last November.

Oxfordshire's jobless rate was unchanged at 1.1 per cent, one of the lowest in the country. The national average is 2.5 per cent.

Nationally, the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance fell by 5,700 last month to 950,800, the fourth monthly reduction in the last five months.

The number of people out of work, including those not claiming benefits, fell by 7,000 in the quarter to October to 1.7 million - almost 200,000 higher than a year ago.

The number of people classed as economically inactive, including students, those looking after relatives and people who have given up trying to find work, increased by 38,000 in the latest three months to 7.84 million.

More than one in five people of working age are now economically inactive, according to the figures.

Average earnings increased by 4.1 per cent in the year to October, up by 0.2 per cent on the previous month.