Yorkshire’s jobless total fell by 2,000 in the three months to October, according to official figures.

And in Kirklees, the number dropped below 7,000 for the first time in six years.

The 1% fall takes the number of people unemployed in Yorkshire and Humber to 191,000 or 7.1% of the working age population.

Nationally, data from the office for National Statistics showed UK a record number of people in work at 30.8m – the highest since records began in 1971 and 588,000 up on a year ago.

But a fall of 63,000 in the jobless total to 1.96m between August and October was the smallest quarterly fall for a year.

The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance fell by 26,900 in November to 900,100 – the 25th consecutive monthly fall.

The Kirklees claimant count stood at 6,910 last month – the first time the figure has been below 7,000 since the 2008 credit crunch.

Ann Sykes, Jobcentre employment and partnership manager for Calderdale and Kirklees, said there were now 3,178 fewer claimants in Kirklees than a year ago – including 960 fewer young people.

Among local parliamentary constituencies, the claimant count in Huddersfield fell by 39 to 2,268 in November with the total for Colne Valley down by 64 at 1,410 and the Dewsbury figures lower by 107 at 1,599.

Ms Sykes said prospects for 2015 were also positive. Local Jobcentres had also begun recruiting on behalf of retailer The Range, which is seeking 60 to 80 staff for its new store to open in March at Great Northern Retail Park in Huddersfield following the closure of Homebase.

She said: “We expect a number of people who have gained retail skills by taking temporary Christmas jobs to apply. One these temporary vacancies have disappeared, we will be working with helping thm use the work expereince and skills they have gianed to find something else.”

Ms Sykes said 2015 would also see Jobcentre Plus embark on campaigns with various industry sectors – starting with the hospitality sector in February.

ONS figures showed that public sector employment across the UK has fallen by 7,000 to 5.4m, the lowest level since 1999, although many public sector employees have been reclassified as being in the private sector if they work for school academies.

The UK’s unemployment rate is now 6%, down by 0.2% on the previous quarter and by 1.4% over the past year.