An increasing number of Bradford households last year did not have anyone over the age of 16 in employment, according to figures released yesterday.

Nearly a quarter of homes in the district were classed as workless, which leaves the district with the second highest rate in Yorkshire and the highest in West Yorkshire.

A total of 24 per cent of households, equivalent to 40,000 homes, had no-one who is employed living in them. This is a rise of 3,000 homes on 2010, when the figure was 22.6 per cent. In previous years the Office for National Statistics figures showed 20.2 per cent in 2009 and 17.8 per cent in 2008.

According to the labour market survey, sickness, both long-term and temporary, was the main reason given for not working by the people living in workless households across the UK.

Regionally, Bradford fared better than Hull, which saw a rate of 25.3 per cent of households classed as workless. But other areas, such as Leeds; Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham taken together; and Sheffield, actually had higher numbers of workless household.

Calderdale and Kirklees taken together had the same number of workless households as Bradford, at 40,000, but the rate across the two districts was actually 19.4 per cent.

The statistics drew a range of comments from local politicians.

Councillor Susan Hinch-cliffe, Bradford Council’s executive member with responsibility for employment, skills and culture, said: “This isn’t a surprise as this recession is hitting young people the hardest and Bradford has one of the largest young populations in the country. That’s why we don’t compare well to other authorities.”

“But we are investing in the Get Bradford Working programme – a £7.7 million job creation fund which is the largest created by a local authority in the country.

“We need our young people to be job ready,” she added.

“We are investing because we know it’s an issue and we want to encourage our employers to take on more apprentices.”

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, said: “Workless households affects the quality of life.

“We have suffered through the recession and previous recessions and we have to ensure job opportunities become available.

“But we have had nothing from Government to make this happen and jobs are not available but we are losing jobs in the public sector which are not being created in the private sector.

“This is a problem for areas like ours and is why we need extra support.”

Bradford East Liberal Democrat MP David Ward, said: “This is a very serious issue, we have an issue with people who are employed on low incomes but the situation in parts of Bradford is compounded by high levels of worklessness as we are seeing in these figures.”

Shipley Conservative MP Philip Davies, said: “These figures are truly shocking. The best way out of poverty for anyone is work.

“It is not only better for the people to get work, it is better for the economy and also better for future generations of those households where there is no work ethic.”

Employment Minister Mark Hoban, said: “The national figures were encouraging with a fall in both the proportion of workless households and in the proportion of children that live in a house where no-one works.

“However, in many areas, worklessness remains a substantial challenge.”