Unemployment figures are good news for the South Lakes - Farron

Figures released today show that our area has the third lowest unemployment in the UK. The news has been welcomed by South Lakes MP Tim Farron.

The number of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in October 2014 was 225.This means just 0.6% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64 was out of work, the third lowest rate of the 650 UK constituencies.

The number of claimants was also 162 lower than in October 2013 and 24 lower than in September 2014.

Tim said: "This is welcome news and is a testament to local businesses and residents. But even though we have incredibly low unemployment, we face other challenges - lower than average wages, higher than average house prices and lots of seasonal work.

"Over the last few years we have worked to secure investment, boost apprenticeships and supported businesses to create more jobs, but I know that more still needs to be done."