Fresh evidence emerged recntly of a modest upturn in fortunes for the East Anglia economy as new figures showed the first drop in the number people claiming unemployment benefit since the beginning of the year.

While the jobless total across the UK reached a 12-year high of more than 2.2 million people, the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire fell by 936 between April and May.

In Norfolk, the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance fell by 465 between April and May to a total of 17,988.

The number of claimants fell in all but one of the county's districts - with only Breckland seeing a small rise.

In Suffolk, the number of benefit claimants fell by 279, while in Cambridgeshire unemployment appeared stable with just 12 fewer benefits claimants in May than the month before.

Overall in East Anglia, the number of claimants fell from 43,000 in

April to 42,064. But the figures are still markedly higher than a year ago.

Adrian Ient, of the East of England Development Agency, said: “This data isn't seasonally adjusted so there's an element of seasonal work coming on board at the moment - generally in tourism and hospitality and agricultural work.

“I would say that these are areas with higher than average proportions of people working in seasonal industries. Claimant unemployment in some of these areas usually peaks around February and troughs around September.

“As shown in our monthly economic reports, we've received a number of positive reports of the current strength of the tourism industry, with big increases in bookings for holiday parks and accommodation and numbers at visitor attractions - both at Easter and forward bookings for the summer: evidence that the recession and the weaker value of the pound are increasing the demand for domestic holidays and attracting more foreign visitors.

“It is important to note that claimant unemployment in all of these areas remains well above a year ago.”


The district and county breakdown of people claiming jobseekers' allowance in May:

Norfolk - 17,988 (down 465) - Breckland 2,702 (up 48), Broadland 1,610 (down 87), Great Yarmouth 3,165 (down 174), King's Lynn and West Norfolk 2,845 (down 95), North Norfolk 1,721 (down 107), Norwich 4,245 (down three), South Norfolk 1,700 (down 47).

Cambridgeshire - 10,047 (down 12).

Suffolk - 14,209 (down 279).

East Anglia - 42,064 down from 43,000 (down 936)

(Source:EDP24)