Unemployment falls for first time in nine months

Fiddled figures again.

A marginal seasonal improvement plus tightening up on claimants. The fact is the IOW is an economic and therefore an unemployment blackspot and will always be because of the cost and inconvenience of the Solent. Our only future is tourism but we have no coherent strategy because each island town is too parochial in its outlook . What we are doing is ruining the prospect of the garden isle as a tourist destination as we are building masses of houses (without infrastructure) and without the prospect of jobs for the people we are importing to live in them. ( see today's other County Press headline re increased burglaries - the two are linked).

A marginal seasonal improvement plus tightening up on claimants. The fact is the IOW is an economic and therefore an unemployment blackspot and will always be because of the cost and inconvenience of the Solent. Our only future is tourism but we have no coherent strategy because each island town is too parochial in its outlook . What we are doing is ruining the prospect of the garden isle as a tourist destination as we are building masses of houses (without infrastructure) and without the prospect of jobs for the people we are importing to live in them. ( see today's other County Press headline re increased burglaries - the two are linked).

March is around the time when seasonal employment kicks in. It's naturally going to fall from March until September-October when it will start to get worse again. The graph clearly shows this. What's still worrying is how much higher it is this year compared to previous years.

What the Island needs is all year round jobs, and much more of them. Perhaps if we actually started to properly promote the island as an ALL YEAR ROUND holiday destination, it could help towards this.

Ah how they manage to manipulate the story in a positive light when the election is looming! Having just been made redundant for the second time since moving to the Island 5 years ago I find it hard to believe that the unemployment rate is falling. Suspect it is just becoming increasingly difficult for people to claim or continue to claim job seekers allowance after 6 months! When first made redundant 3 years ago I claimed job seekers for 6 months. During that time I not only job hunted but did a lot of research into starting my own business but could not get the finance together. When I had my 6 month interview with the job centre I was told they could give me a £200 loan to help with business start up costs - really do they have clue! Was also offer a half day plastering course to see if that was a career I wanted to pursue. No child care costs covered should I had wanted to take them up on that however at 39 I figured had I wanted to pursue that career I would have done so earl

Ah how they manage to manipulate the story in a positive light when the election is looming! Having just been made redundant for the second time since moving to the Island 5 years ago I find it hard to believe that the unemployment rate is falling. Suspect it is just becoming increasingly difficult for people to claim or continue to claim job seekers allowance after 6 months! When first made redundant 3 years ago I claimed job seekers for 6 months. During that time I not only job hunted but did a lot of research into starting my own business but could not get the finance together. When I had my 6 month interview with the job centre I was told they could give me a £200 loan to help with business start up costs - really do they have clue! Was also offer a half day plastering course to see if that was a career I wanted to pursue. No child care costs covered should I had wanted to take them up on that however at 39 I figured had I wanted to pursue that career I would have done so earl

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