Scotland overtakes London as worst region in the UK for unemployment

February 16 2012 - A Nomisweb analysis of UK local authority areas by claimant to vacancies ratio in January 2012 shows that a number of Scottish areas have passed the inner London boroughs to become the UK's worst employment blackspots.

Local Area Clackmannanshire East Dunbartonshire Lewisham West Dunbartonshire Eilean Siar Hackney Isle of Wight East Ayrshire East Renfrewshire North Lanarkshire

Claimants 1,893 1,903 10,791 3,969 554 11,019 3,964 4,872 1,423 12,517

Vacancies 27 68 393 148 21 455 171 212 62 571

Ratio 70.1 28.0 27.5 26.8 26.4 24.2 23.2 23.0 23.0 21.9

The number of Job Seekers Allowance claimants per vacancy across the country has rose from 1.5 in 2005 to six in 2011. In March 2005 the London borough of Newham had the worst unemployment problem in Britain with 15 dole claimants chasing each vacancy. By January 2012 Clackmannanshire was the worst with over 70 dole claimants for every vacancy.

While seven London boroughs, including Haringey and Lewisham, have remained in the top ten employment blackspots' list for at least four of the last seven years, Southwark, Islington and Kensington & Chelsea have improved their rankings to 43, 45 and 47 respectively. In fact, Southwark is one of a mere three local authorities to have a better claimant to vacancy ratio in 2011 than in 2005.

Back in 2002, the 10 worst areas in the UK for unemployment were spread across the country, with half in London, three in the North East of England, one in the North West of England, and one in Scotland. All had unemployment rates of more than one in ten:

Hackney Newham Dundee City Haringey Middlesbrough Southwark South Tyneside Tower Hamlets Liverpool Newcastle upon Tyne

16.4% 13.5% 12.8% 12.7% 12.4% 12.1% 12.1% 11.8% 11.1% 11%

(14,000) (12,000) (9,000) (13,000) (8,000) (13,000) (8,000) (9,000) (21,000) (14,000)

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