The North East has reclaimed its unwanted position as the unemployment blackspot of the UK after the region’s joblessness rate rose sharply.
The rise in the region’s unemployment rate to 5.7% came as the national level fell slightly in the three months to the end of November. That meant the North East overtook London - which had been hardest hit for job losses during the pandemic - to have the highest rate of unemployment in the country.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also show that the unemployment rate for women in the region is, unusually, higher than that of men.
