New official figures suggest East Hampshire is one of the best places for employment in the UK.

Numbers published by the Office of National Statistics show that against a UK average unemployment figure of 4.3%, only 2.2% of people in our area are claiming unemployment-related benefits.

However, the figures suggest there has been a small uplift in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit. The claimant rate for the previous month was 2%.

Responding to the latest figures, the MP for East Hampshire Damian Hinds said:

“These latest indicators show that, while there is some increase in East Hampshire’s claimant count, local unemployment is still low.  This comes amidst a national picture of overall unemployment being still low by historical standards, if not quite at the modern-period low point reached a couple of years ago.”

The ONS has also revealed that average wages increased in real terms in the three months to June by over 2% and in nominal terms by over 4%.