UNEMPLOYMENT in East Lancashire increased slightly over the last month despite falling numbers for the UK as a whole.

There are now 13,128 people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance in the region, compared with 13,164 in October, according to figures released today.

The number has also increased by 45 from the same time last year.

The higest number of unemployed people is in Blackburn with Darwen, with 4,320 claiming out of work benefits, although the figure is down 25 on the month before.

In Burnley there were 2,744 people looking for work in November compared with 2,756 in October.

The Ribble Valley saw a month-on-month increase, with 18 more people claiming the unemployment benefit in November in comparison to the previous month, bringing the total to 493.

In Pendle, there were 2,099 people out of work, meaning 12 more were looking for jobs.

Burnley had 12 fewer unemployed people in November, with a total of 2,744 and Hyndburn also saw a drop of 18, bringing the number of people on Job Seekers’ Allowance to 1,865.

Rossendale now has 1,607 people out of work, 11 fewer than in October.

In the North West, there were 1,200 fewer people out of work in November than in the previous month. The region now has 198,700 unemployed people.

An extra 17,000 people were working in England in November compared to October, although the number of people looking for jobs still stands at 1,291,500 .