The number of people on Job Seekers Allowance bucked the national trend and fell slightly to 1,234 or 2.6% in May 2009 compared to 1,276 or 2.7% in April. Although this is a 135% increase from May last year when the number of job seekers was 524, it means that the last three months have seen almost an equal number of job seekers finding work as losing their job. The number of open positions dropped sharply during the month to 212 from 362, meaning that there are now 5.8 job seekers per vacancy locally, compared to 1.0 a year ago.
Harriett Baldwin said, "I am glad that the job market stayed stable in May, but I am very concerned about the school leavers and other young people who are coming on to the job market this summer. There is also talk of redundancies at QinetiQ, the largest employer in the constituency. I do recommend that anyone looking for work contact their nearest Job Centre Plus where they can find information about job training and apprenticeships as well as job openings and financial help. "