SIGNIFICANT progress is being made to tackle unemployment in Worcestershire according to the county’s business partnership.

Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership has seen a noticeable improvement locally over the last few years but particularly so when comparing January 2012 with December 2012.

For the 16-64 age group, there were a total of 11,404 people unemployed last Jan-uary – 4.1 per cent of the population – but by December this had shrunk to 9,854, just 2.8 per cent.

The December equivalents for the West Midlands and UK were 157,048, 4.4 per cent, and 1,523,222, 3.7 per cent, respectively.

Peter Pawsey, chairman of the partnership, said: “We are certainly not resting on our laurels, we have a long way to go but it is very pleasing that the jobless figures are coming down. Now the task is to ensure the trend keeps going in the right direction. What we are seeing is a steady and significant decline in the numbers of unemployed. “It means we are having some success in terms of all the various efforts being made to cut the jobless queue, get people back to being productive and boost economic growth in the county. The numbers are still much higher than we would like but welcome when compared with West Midlands and UK figures.”

A dent is also being made in youth unemployment – the 18-24 age group. The Worcestershire total has come down from 3,145, 7.6 per cent, last January to 2,690, 6.5 per cent, in December.

Last month’s equivalents for the West Midlands and UK were 43,335, 8.3 per cent, and 405,115, 6.8 per cent.

Mr Pawsey added: “There will be setbacks – we anticipate numbers will rise next month when the January claimant count figures are released due to the decrease in seasonal work. So we must redouble our efforts.

“However, especially given disappointing GDP statistics and fears of a triple dip recession, Worcestershire is wea-thering the economic storm better than most. Much of that is down to the skills and expertise of the workforce. “The county is sending the message out far and wide that this is a go-ahead place for businesses to invest, expand and prosper, creating further jobs in the process.”