Kirklees jobless figure dropping

Jan 2 2010 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

UNEMPLOYMENT in Kirklees has started to fall in the last three months.

But there is still a big demand for help and that’s what staff at Huddersfield Jobcentre Plus hope to provide.

As reported at the end of last month, the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show the number of people unemployed in Kirklees dropped from 12,316 in October to 11,735 last month.

That was the third consecutive monthly fall – 52 fewer people were registered unemployed in September than August and 72 fewer in October than September.

The past three months are the first period since May last year that the DWP has recorded a drop in the number of people claiming jobseekers’ allowance, the figure they use to calculate levels of unemployment.

At that stage 6,101 people – 2.4% of the population of Kirklees – were classed as being unemployed.

After that, the number steadily rose, reaching a peak of 12,440 (5%) in August.

But history shows that the recent apparent upturn in the jobs market is not necessarily cause for celebration.

Traditionally, unemployment worsens again after Christmas, possibly because temporary jobs that are available over the festive period disappear again in January.

The staff at Huddersfield Jobcentre Plus, off Market Street near the Civic Centre, are therefore keen to emphasise the services available to people who are out of work.

And they are eager to stress that the old image of job centre walls lined with jobs boards and queues of people on the dole is out of date.

A DWP spokeswoman said: “Many people still have visions of Jobcentres as portrayed in the Full Monty film.

“But the reality is very different.

“In Kirklees and across the Yorkshire and Humber Region all our Jobcentres have been completely transformed and modernised.

“Today’s Jobcentres are modern and bright, with computerised job–points that job-seekers can use to easily search for jobs by occupation and area.”

“But it isn’t just the environment that has changed. The procedures for making a claim and signing on have been simplified and we have increased staffing and streamlined processes to deal with greater numbers of claims.”

When a job-seeker first walks into Jobcentre Plus, they are seen by a new claims adviser.

They are assessed to find out what their skills and qualifications are and to identify anything which may have been stopping them from getting back into work.

Adviser Chrissy Garside said: “We make sure the customer has the best possible chance to get back into work as soon as possible.

“A lot of people just don’t know how to find the jobs that are there.”

She said all sorts of people were using the Jobcentre as a result of the recession.

“We get a complete range, from the executives, right down to a manual labourers,” she said.