Chamber welcomesnew jobless figures

Government figures showed there were 42,000 fewer people unemployed in the East Midlands in the three months to November 2013 than in the same period of 2012.

The number of Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) claimants in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire also fell by 170 in December 2013, meaning there were 5,782 fewer claimants than there were in December 2012.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage points to 7.1 per cent, or 2.32 million people, in the three months to November.

George Cowcher, chief executive at Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce said: “These figures are once again positive and provide further evidence that the economy has turned a corner, the recovery is strengthening and business confidence is improving.

“They come on the back of fresh figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has this week upgraded its forecast for UK growth, and also continue to underline our own research which shows that business is more confident, is recruiting more and is investing more.

“The key message continues to be that with employment up, unemployment down and inactivity down, things are progressing well.

“However, politicians and policymakers cannot afford to be complacent. As the national unemployment figure continues to fall, we get closer to the seven per cent figure which Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has identified as being the point at which he will consider raising interest rates.

“While inflationary pressures eased slightly at the end of 2013, these still need to be watched closely, with any significant changes having implications for future economic policy.

“We believe interest rates won’t rise until possibly 2015, but business needs to know that interest rates will be held low as long as possible.”