THE fall in unemployment numbers has been welcomed by small business leaders in Worcestershire.

Judi Brazkiewicz, county chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses said news the national figure had dropped by 5.7 per cent to 97,000 was "certainly encouraging".

She added: "We hope to see the trend continue throughout the year, especially as schools, colleges and universities approach the end of the current academic year. More than 99 per cent of companies employ fewer than 49 people, so it is the small business sector who have obviously provided the employment opportunities which underpin this improvement and we hope to see measures such as the Employers Allowance of £2000 for National Insurance continue to pay dividends to both employers and their staff .”

The FSB's national chairman John Allan said: "The figures show the UK labour market finished last year on a high note. Many of our members have told us that they intend to expand their businesses and hire staff this year, and so we would expect these positive trends in the headline jobs data to continue in the coming months.

“There is also cause for optimism on pay. These statistics show that pay including bonuses has increased by 2.1 per cent in a year, and with record low inflation the growth in real wages should start to gain some much-needed momentum. Our research shows we are also starting to see modest gains in small business productivity, which will be critical if companies are to afford further wage increases in the near future”.