THE number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in Wirral remained almost static in the last month.

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics today show 6,715 people claimed the benefit - a rise of just five on the previous 6,710.

Nationally, just over 30m people are now working, up by 459,000 on a year ago.

Youth and long-term unemployment has also fallen, with those out of work for over a year down by 38,000 to 828,000, while 912,000 people aged between 16 and 24 were jobless, down by 29,000.

Employment minister and Wirral West MP Esther McVey said: "We now have the highest employment rate for five years, which shows that the growing economy is helping record numbers of people to find a job, turn their lives around and have the security of a regular wage.

"The rise in employment is being fuelled by businesses and entrepreneurs across the country who are feeling increasingly confident with the improving economy.

"They should be congratulated for creating over 1.7m private sector jobs since 2010 - that's over 1,000 more people in private sector jobs every day."