Simon Baynes, the Welsh Conservative Assembly Candidate for Clwyd South, has welcomed new figures showing 78,000 more people in work across Wales since Labour were last in power and a record level of employment across the UK as a whole – with over 2.3 mllion more people enjoying the security of a job than in 2010.
In Clwyd South, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit while not in employment has fallen by 710 - a 46% per cent drop – since 2010.
The figures also show that wages are continuing to grow strongly, with average total pay up 2.0 per cent, while inflation is close to flat. This means working people across Clwyd South are seeing their wages grow and our plan for a higher-employment and higher-wage economy is working.
With employment at a record 74.0 per cent, and the majority of the increase in employment over the last year in full-time jobs, today’s statistics show that our economic plan is working. It’s creating jobs and growing pay packets for families in Clwyd South as we continue to move towards the goal of full employment that we committed to in our manifesto.
Simon Baynes said:
‘These figures are excellent news for families in Clwyd South, marking an important milestone in the road to full employment. With employment at the highest rate in our history, wages continuing to grow above inflation, and the unemployment rate now below the level we last saw before Labour’s Great Recession, it’s clear our economic plan is working.
‘We can see that here in in Clwyd South, where the number of people relying on Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit while out of work has fallen by 710 since 2010 – a 46% drop.
‘Each new job mean a worker and their family with the security of a pay packet. But with Britain facing a dangerous cocktail of new risks in the global economy this year it’s more important than ever that we stick to our plan to fix Britain’s finances, as we continue to work to deliver security for families here in Clwyd South and across the UK.’
· On 20 January 2015, the ONS published regional employment statistics for the three months to November 2015. Constituency claimant count figures for December 2015 were also published, available on the nomis website (ONS, Regional Labour Market Statistics,20 January 2016, link; nomis, accessed 20 January 2016).