Latest unemployment and Jobcentre vacancy figures released

The latest unemployment and Jobcentre vacancy figures are out today for West Lothian (Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) based figures).

• The number of JSA jobless in West Lothian for August is 4,841. This is an increase of 4 on the previous month.
• West Lothian's unemployment rate of 4.3% is higher than both the Scottish (4.1%) and Great Britain (3.6%) rates. West Lothian's unemployment rate ranks 10th highest out of all Scottish local authority areas.
• Youth unemployment (18-24 year olds) in West Lothian for August is 1,580. This is a small increase of 5 on the last month.
• There were 1,074 notified Jobcentre vacancies in August - a net increase of 331 from July 2010.
• The ratio of jobseekers to jobcentre vacancies stands at 5 jobseekers for every vacancy advertised in West Lothian jobcentres, which is a good improvement on last month's ratio of 7 jobseekers. In comparison, Scotland's ratio is 4.8:1, Great Britain is 3.6:1 with East Renfrewshire having the highest ratio of 13.9:1 (14 jobseekers for every vacancy) of claimants to vacancies of Scottish local authorities.