THE NUMBER of people in Worcestershire claiming Jobseeker's Allowance has fallen by more than a third in the past year.

According to the latest figures released by the Office of National Statistics, 5,778 claimed the benefit last month - compared to 9,023 in August 2013.

The total number of residents in the county who pick up Job Seeker's Allowance - which is one of the key indicators of unemployment - has fallen for seven months in succession.

In the August figures for Malvern Hills, there were 1,120 claimants, in Worcester 2,675 and in Wychavon 1,635.

For the same month last year, the figures for the three authorities were 1,690, 4,085 and 2,550 respectively.

Worcester's Conservative MP Robin Walker hailed the figures as evidence of "a strong economic recovery", but told your Worcester News even more needs to be done to combat unemployment.

While the county's figures followed the general national trend of improvement, Mr Walker said Worcestershire was performing better than average.

Comparing the period from May to July to the preceding quarter (February to April) shows 4,027 fewer claimants in the county.

Mr Walker said: "We've seen the best claimant count figures since about 2008 and the best youth claimant count figures since 2007.

"I think we're seeing a strong economic recovery and Worcestershire performing better than the national average.

"When unemployment peaked here in 2008/9 it was higher than the national average, but now we're seeing it consistently below.

"That is very welcome and partly related to a number of individual decisions taken by companies in Worcester to expand."

Investment by the likes of John Lewis in the county offers hope for the future, Mr Walker suggested.

He said: "That gives us the confidence that we can take this further."

Across the West Midlands, the number of people in work between May and July increased by 13,000 on the previous four months, and 57,000 more than the same period last year.

A total of 102,300 people in the region claimed Job Seekers Allowance last month - 44,100 down on August 2013, and 4,700 fewer than in July this year.

Nationwide, the number of people claiming it in August fell by 37,200 to 966,500, the Office for National Statistics said.

In 2014, the number of unemployed had fallen by 468,000 - which is the biggest annual fall in unemployment since 1988.

The Office of National Statistics figures are a result of its Labour Force Survey, based on conversations with 60,000 households once every quarter.