Almost 1,500 more workers joined company payrolls in Worcestershire last month, figures reveal.

Office for National Statistics data shows an estimated 266,758 people in Worcestershire were on company payrolls in December, 1,427 more than in November – the second-highest increase since records began in 2014.

The figure was up from 257,344 in December 2020 and was above pre-pandemic levels – 264,791 workers were recorded on company payrolls in December 2019.

Across the UK, the number of workers on payrolls jumped by a record 184,000 month-on-month, to 29.5 million.

Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said new survey figures showed the unemployment rate had also fallen back to pre-pandemic levels nationally.

He said: “Those reporting they’d recently been made redundant fell to their lowest since records began more than a quarter of a century ago.

“However, while job vacancies reached a new high in the last quarter of 2021, they are now growing more slowly than they were last summer.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the increase was proof that the jobs market was “thriving”, but figures show wages are struggling to keep up with the increasing cost of living.

The ONS data shows the median monthly salary for payrolled workers in Worcestershire rose from £1,957 in November to £1,971 at the end of the year.

Separate figures show that in the three months to November, the UK average wage growth was 4.2 per cent.

However, inflation in November was 5.1 per cent, meaning wages failed to keep up with the rising cost of living for the first time since July 2020.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Globally we are seeing challenges caused by inflation and cost of living, particularly as the global economy emerges from the worst of the pandemic

“Real wages are 2.9% above pre-pandemic levels. But we know people are facing pressure with the cost of living.”

Separate ONS figures show that in the Worcester local authority area, there was a fall in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.

Around 2,575 people were on out-of-work benefits as of December 9, down by 1,030 from the month before.

It meant four per cent of the area's working population sought support in December.