1,618 people out of work in Ballymena & district

The current unemployed total, for March, stands at 1,618 which is 57 more claimants than the previous month.

Broken down into wards, Dunclug had the highest total unemployed as of March at 121 (compared to 117 the previous month), next was Ballee at 111 (104 in February, 2011) and joint third highest were Ballykeel and Cullybackey, both on 102.

However, while Ballykeel was up by four claimants on the previous month, Cullybackey’s total was down by two.

The ward with the least unemployment as of March this year was Ballyloughan on 25 (29 in February).

Province-wide the statistics, from the Labour Force Survey, showed that the NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 7.3% in the period December 2010 – February 2011.

This represented a decrease from the rate of 7.8% recorded in the previous quarter, but an increase from the rate of 6.5% recorded in the previous year.

Over the year, the Northern Ireland claimant count has increased by 5.9%, compared to a decrease of 5.8% in the UK.

The latest Northern Ireland rate was lower than the equivalent UK rate of 7.8%. It was also below the European Union (9.5%) and Republic of Ireland (13.5%) rates.

Unadjusted LFS estimates show that 47.2% of those unemployed in Northern Ireland have been unemployed for one year or more.

They also record the unemployment rate for 18-24 year olds at 20.3%.

The seasonally adjusted number of people claiming unemployment related benefits stood at 59,000 in March 2011 – up 100 from the revised figure for the previous month.