Leicestershire's dole queue shrinks

Leicestershire's dole queue shrank last month, figures today revealed.

The number of Jobseekers' Allowance claimants in the county fell by 47 to 24,560 in February.

It comes after the figure rose by more than 1,000 in January, the highest increase in 11 months. This was blamed on the loss shop jobs which had been temporarily created for the Christmas period.

There was further encouraging news after the number of vacancies rose from 14,000 to 17,000 last month.

Martin Traynor, managing director of Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce, said: "It's positive news. There's an element of stabilisation going on."