THE number of jobseekers in Hyndburn has rocketed by 68 per cent in the last year, according to latest Government figures.
A total of 1,588 people were looking for work in the borough in December, up by 642 from December 2007. More than half of the increase occurred in the last two months as local redundancies begin to bite.
The majority of jobseekers – 1,275 – were men, among whom Hyndburn has the second highest proportion of jobseekers in the county, behind Burnley.
Nationally total unemployment – including those not eligible for benefits – stood at 1.92M in the quarter to November, up by 131,000, and 6.1 per cent.
The figures also indicated that Hyndburn is Lancashire’s most economically inactive borough with nearly one-in-three Hyndburn residents of working age not in work in the year to March 2008.
The 29.2 per cent economically inactive rate includes the unemployed, students, the early retired, people on temporary and long-term sick leave and people not seeking a job.
