Number of Lewes residents claiming unemployment benefit falls by 35%

The official figures state that in September 2022 the number of people in the Lewes constituency claiming unemployment benefit was 1500, a drop of 535 from the same time 12 months ago.

The statistics also showed the 2.9 per cent of the population of Lewes aged 16-64 claim unemployment benefit, lower than the national rate of 3.7 per cent.

Maria Caulfield, Member of Parliament for Lewes, welcomed the news, saying: “I very much welcome the news that more people in Lewes are getting into work, we know that work is the best route out of poverty and that there are many sectors who are actively recruiting new staff and there are opportunities to train and re-train in a variety of skills.

“I would like to pay tribute to all the hard work that our Job Centres do in Lewes and beyond to help people into work and provide a safety-net for those who most need it.”

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This information follows that news that the UK unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since 1974, as long-term sickness kept more older workers out of the labour market, meaning they counted as inactive, rather than unemployed.

Figures also showed that real wages continued to fall despite the UK’s unemployment rate dropping – falling by nearly 2.9 per cent in the three months from June to August – due to national inflation being close to a 40 year high of 9.9 per cent.