The North East’s unemployment rate has edged closer to the national average after staying unchanged in the latest figures.
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the North East’s unemployment rate stayed at 4.2% in the three months to the end of March, with the region seeing the largest drop in joblessness in the UK over the last year.
That puts the North East close to the UK average of 3.9% - a slight rise on last month - and the England figure of 4.0%. The region has traditionally had the worst figures for unemployment in the country but there are now three areas - the West Midlands, London and Wales - which have higher unemployment.
