Government economic measures are beginning to work in Portsmouth South with a big decrease of 4.5% in the number of Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants in the 18-24 age group and 25-49 age group. 2465 people went into employment over the last year according to a House of Commons briefing paper (January 23 2013). This is exciting news.
Over the whole country, there was the largest annual increase in employment since 1989 with 552,000 people moving into employment making a total of 29.68 million in employment. There are still 1.56 million people claiming JSA in the country (2984 in Portsmouth South) and the unemployment rate is still 7.7% but it is beginning to move in the right direction.
You can download the whole report at http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/RP13-6