Listen Live

Exeter employment rate holding up

Best in UK, after York

Exeter is one of the UK's most resilient place for jobs, according to figures released by the think tank Centre for Cities.

Just over four per cent of people are claiming unemployment benefits in Exeter, placing it second to another Roman city, York. Birmingham is suffering most, with unemployment back to Thatcherite proportions. One of its most famous bands UB40, named after the unemployment benefit form, sang about the 'one in 10' in 1981. Once again, one in 10 Brummies are out of work.

The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits nationally has just about doubled in six months, from 1.4 million in March to 2.7 million people in September.

Despite the apparent good news for Exeter, it's all relative. Unemployment has risen everywhere. But once again, Exeter and York are the most resilient places, showing rises of only 2.4 and 2.3 per cent respectively since March. Slough and Luton are the places where more people are losing jobs. Exeter actually had a marginal fall in unemployment claims between August and September - though this was just 0.1 per cent.

Although jobs have been lost in tourism and hospitality particularly, the furlough scheme has protected many. That scheme is being withdrawn at the end of this month though, to be replaced by a wage support scheme that will be part-funded by employers who will have to pay people for hours they don't work. That's expected to lead to more job losses.

The chairman of Exeter's business improvement district Patrick Cunningham says Exeter is open for business and people can be assured businesses have done everything possible to comply with safety requirements.

The Centre for Cities has an unemployment tracker tool here: https://www.centreforcities.org/data/uk-unemployment-tracker/

More from Local News

Listen Live
On Air Now Matt Rogers Playing Rock The Boat Forrest