UNEMPLOYMENT levels in Worcestershire are static with only 14 more people claiming benefit this year than last year.

Government figures for the first quarter of 2004, released yesterday, show the figure for Worcestershire stands at 5,541, or 1.7 per cent of the population.

In Worcester, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit stands at 1,148, or 1.9 per cent of the population, which is 22 more people than last year.

In Herefordshire, the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the population is the same as Worcestershire, at 1.7 per cent, which amounts to 1,706 people.

Broken down by local authority area, the jobless figures are 900 in the Bromsgrove district, 441 in the Malvern Hills district, 1,125 in Redditch, 872 in Wychavon and 1,055 in the Wyre Forest.

Nationally, there were 297,000 less people out of work in the first quarter of 2004 than the same time last year.

According to the Government, there are a record 28,350,000 people in work, with employment increasing by 195,000 people in the past three months.