Unemployment, as measured by claimants, is up by 21% year on year in the Ludlow area. The numbers of unemployed people are still relatively low but we have to ask why local unemployment is growing. Nationally, unemployment has fallen by nearly 2% in the same period. During the Great Recession of 2008 to 2013, unemployment soared across the country including here in Ludlow. At the peak in February 2013, 1,146 people were unemployed and claiming benefits in the Ludlow constituency.[1] From that peak, there has been a steady fall in claimants, reaching a low point of 368 in September 2015. Since then number has grown to 454 in September 2016. This is a clear trend upwards over the last year and we can’t ignore it.
Unemployment in the Ludlow constituency is still falling, bucking the national picture where unemployment crept upwards in May. But local wages still trail behind and are only nine-tenths of national wages. Unemployment drops… The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, or not in work and claiming Universal Credit, in the Ludlow parliamentary constituency fell from 408 people in May to 382 in June. The claimant rate is now just 1%, two-fifths of the national rate of 2.5%. This is very good news. Unemployment in the constituency, as measured by Jobseekers claimants, has fallen by 67% since the height of the recession in February 2013.
There has been a welcome drop in unemployment in the Ludlow area. The number of people in the Ludlow parliamentary constituency claiming Jobseekers Allowance, or not in work and claiming Universal Credit, has dropped from 432 in April to 408 in May (6% fall). Nearly all of the fall has been in youth unemployment which has dropped sharply from 105 people to 85 (19% fall).
Unemployment has been dropping in the Ludlow area for a while, but today there is bad news from the Eco Park. Capita Medical Reporting has told its staff that the company is making a round of redundancies. Up to 30 jobs are to go. This is a blow to the town and surrounding area, and of course for those losing their jobs. I hope that the people being made redundant are able to find jobs quickly. As I know from being unemployed myself a few years back, it can be hard to get a new job in rural areas, especially in middle age.
Promoters of the supermarket proposal originally said the new supermarket would create 250 jobs. That’s now been revised to 210 jobs, two-thirds of which will be part time. This is of course an estimate. Even more of an estimate is the calculation that around 78 part and full time jobs will be lost in the Ludlow area if the store opens.