LEDBURY'S MP, Bill Wiggin has welcomed new figures which show how employment is at near record highs.

The latest figures show employment at 32.08m: a rise of 325,000 from last year and a rise of 3m since 2010. The employment rate stands at 75.1 per cent, " a figure close to record highs".

Mr Wiggin, MP for the North Herefordshire constituency said: "Unemployment stands at 1.42 million; a fall of 182,000 from this time last year and over 1 million since 2010.

"Furthermore, youth unemployment has fallen by 416,000 since 2010, there are almost 3.5 million disabled people in employment, a rise of 600,000 in the last four years, and the rate of women in work is 70.8 per cent – also close to a record high."

He added: "In my constituency, the total number of unemployed claimants in November 2017 was 455.This represents a rate of 1.1% of the economically active population aged 16-64, the 549th lowest of the 650 UK constituencies. The equivalent UK claimant rate was 2.5%. The UK unemployment rate, which includes people not claiming benefits and is estimated from survey data, was 4.3% between August and October 2017. The number of claimants in North Herefordshire constituency is 60 lower than November 2016 and 10 lower than October 2017."

Mr Wiggin added: “I welcome these figures that show that unemployment continues to fall both in my North Herefordshire constituency and across the UK, meaning more people are in work, taking home a pay packet and are able to provide for their families.

Youth unemployment continues to fall and over a quarter of million more young people have the security of a job than this time last year."