The latest month’s unemployment figures brought good news with the fall in unemployment gathering pace. The national headline level fell by 18,000 to just under 2.5m (or 7.7%) in the three months to the end of August, while September’s claimant count level fell by 41,500 to 1.35m. Meanwhile the number of people in jobs rose to a new record level of 29.87m – a rise of 155,000 in the three months to August. Youth unemployment fell by 1,000 to 958,000 and the numbers unemployed for more than a year fell by 15,000 to 900,000.

Locally, September saw a fall in Acocks Green’s unadjusted unemployment claimant rate of 47 to 1,032 or 7.9%. This is 118 lower than a year ago. Particularly encouraging was the monthly fall in youth unemployment of 24 to 264, making a two month fall of 46.

Across the City, Birmingham’s seasonally adjusted claimant count unemployment of 1,333 to 44,429 (or 9.7%). This is the lowest level since the start of 2009.