Drop in the local unemployment rate
THE queue at the job centre got considerably shorter in September with news that 109 people in Craigavon stopped claiming unemployment related benefits.
It represented at 3.4% drop in the unemployment rate during September, to leave the overall rate in Craigavon at 5.8%, just above the Northern Ireland average of 5%.
During the past 12 months the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits rose by 169, however, without September’s drop this would have been closer to 300.
There are a total of 3,088 claimants in the Craigavon area - 2,145 men and 943 women.
In the 12 months leading to September there have been 87 redundancies in the area.