THE volume of applications for the role at butcher Doug Ewen’s new market stall highlights the grim situation facing East Lancashire’s job-seekers.

Blackburn with Darwen had 3,992 people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) in March, meaning 6.8 people are chasing each position at Blackburn’s Jobcentre Plus.

The number is below the high of 4,363 in May 2009.

However, the number of claimants has not dipped below 3,000 for more than three years, and public sector cuts are predicted to make things even worse.

Mike Damms, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said a number of factors were swelling the jobless total.

He said: “People are beginning to be shaken out of the public sector now and that is adding to the numbers.

"What we are seeing is that more people are wanting to work now than at any other time in history, so there are more people looking for each job.

“But we have got a problem in Lancashire where people are qualified in the wrong things and it skews the labour market.”

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said months of pain lay ahead because ‘the increase in private sector employment is being offset by job losses in the public sector’.

Across East Lancashire as a whole, March’s jobless total rose to 12,106 from 12,047 in February as redundancies by cash-strapped councils began to bite.