Unemployment falls only in Wales

Unemployment reached 100,000 in Wales in December Record rise in UK jobless total UK job cuts affect 'two in three'

Unemployment in Wales fell by a 1,000 in the three months to May to 107,000, the only part of the UK to show a drop.

In the UK as a whole, unemployment rose by 281,000 to almost 2.4m, the Office for National Statistics said.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said the figures were "encouraging signs of resilience" for the Welsh economy.

Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan MP warned the "small drop" in unemployment in Wales was no "cause for complacency" and "underlying problems still remain".

Around 107,000 people are now out of work in Wales, or 7.5%, just below the UK jobless rate of 7.6%.

'Encouraging trend'

Last month the Welsh figures stayed at the same level.

Mr Morgan said: "While the global recession clearly has some way to go, these figures are evidence that the Welsh economy is showing encouraging signs of resilience.

"Whilst quarterly and monthly jobs data can be volatile, these latest figures continue an encouraging trend emerging over the last three months, during which unemployment in Wales remained unchanged."

There are still 31,000 fewer people working in Wales today than this time last year Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan MP

He said the assembly government had worked closely with "business, banking, unions and other organisations "to ensure the recession is as short and as shallow as possible".

"We have introduced practical and effective measures to support individuals and help businesses in Wales deal with the global downturn, including our ProAct programme, which has helped to prevent 4,487 individuals across 76 companies from joining these figures."

ProAct allows companies which have gone to short-time working but were solvent before the recession to apply for a wage subsidy and extra training allowance totalling up to £4,000 per worker.

Beauty spots

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) expressed surprise in reaction to the fall in the Welsh jobless total, but said it had expected Wales to "relatively well" compared to other parts of the UK.

Spokesman Russell Lawson said: "When the recession did hit it really hit manufacturing first and of course there is a lot of manufacturing in Wales, so we seemed to go into the recession before everyone else.

"The Welsh Assembly Government, to give it its due, was fairly swift in setting up the ProAct scheme.

"That was particularly targeted at manufacturing initially (and) the automotive sector as well.

"That meant, I think, there was more (job) retention in the sectors we traditionally rely on".

Mr Lawson suggested Wales was also benefitting from its many beauty spots at a time when people were choosing holidays and short breaks in the UK rather than abroad to save money.

But the Conservatives said the Welsh economy remained weak with "underlying problems".

Mrs Gillan said: "While we welcome the small drop in unemployment in Wales it is not a cause for complacency and does not suggest this marks the start of the economic recovery.

"There are still 31,000 fewer people working in Wales today than this time last year."

'Weather the storm'

The Liberal Democrats warned assembly government ministers against complacency.

Economic spokesperson Jenny Randerson AM said: "Since May, we have seen another wave of large-scale job losses in industry and manufacturing and I would imagine that the total figures have already started to creep back up.

"The (assembly) government still needs to do more to simplify its support for businesses, ease the burden of taxation on small companies and encourage firms to weather the storm instead of pulling out of Wales altogether."