New figures show unemployment levels in the district continuing to fall steadily.

The Labour Force Survey shows 12,542 people in Bradford claimed unemployment-related benefit on April 12 - 948 fewer than on the same date last year, a fall of 0.4 per cent.

Keighley and Skipton figures indicated a 0.3 per cent drop.

The unemployment rate across the Yorkshire and Humber region for the first quarter of 2001 stood at 5.4 per cent, a one per cent reduction on the same period in 2000.

Britain now has a record number of people in work. The number of jobless benefit claimants fell by 10,200 last month to 975,800, the lowest figure since the winter of 1975.

There were 28.1 million people in work between January and March, 268,000 up over the year and the highest figure since records began in 1984.

Employment went up by 100,000 in the first quarter of the year, with two thirds of the new jobs full time.

ILO unemployment, which counts people not eligible for benefit, fell by 64,000 between January and March to 1,500,000, a jobless rate of 5.1 per cent, the lowest on record.

Average earnings increased by 5.1 per cent in the year to March, down by 0.1 per cent from a revised figure of 5.2 per cent in February, according to today's data from the Office For National Statistics.

Earnings grew by 5.8 per cent in private firms, down by 0.3 per cent over the month, and remained unchanged at 3.5 per cent in the public sector.

The number of new vacancies in Job Centres rose by 2,800 in April to 235,600.

Despite the good news on employment, jobs continue to go at manufacturing firms, which shed 101,000 workers in the first quarter of the year.

The biggest cuts were in textiles and clothing and transport equipment.