Jobseeker's Allowance claimants by percentage and local authority
Jan 2008-present
Jobseeker's Allowance is the UK's main unemployment benefit. Trends in the proportion of the working age population claiming the Allowance shows the rise or fall in the number of claimants over time.
At the start of 2008, the number of UK claimants was generally decreasing. From March 2008, the economic downturn started affecting the labour market with the UK claimant count rising. At its lowest, the number of claimants counted was below 800,000. The count passed 1 million in October 2008, and rose to 1.5 million in April 2009.
When the claimant count was at its lowest, in February 2008, the proportion of claimants by local authority varied between a high of 5.4% in Liverpool, to a low of 0.5% in Mole Valley, Surrey. Four other local authorities had claimant proportions exceeding 5 per cent: Birmingham, Tower Hamlets, Wolverhampton and Middlesborough.
By the end of the year, the claimant count proportions in almost all regions had increased, with some more than doubling since February. The highest proportion was now in Kingston Upon Hull at 6.8 per cent, and a further 20 local authorities show proportions exceeding 5 per cent. By March 2009 this total had grown to 83 local authorities where more than one in 20 of the working age population are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.
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Animated maps showing Jobseeker's Allowance claimants