THE number of unemployed people in East Lancashire is down by 215 on the previous month.

All the boroughs in the region, apart from Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, saw a fall in the amount of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance.

The total number of people looking for work in East Lancs fell from 13,128 in November to 12,913 in December.

In December 2011, 13,125 people in the region were out of work.

In Blackburn with Darwen, the number fell from 4,320 to 4,270 over the month and in Pendle the amount of people looking for work dropped from 2,099 to 2,032.

Rossendale had 83 fewer people out of work in December compared with the fugures for November.

But in Hyndburn, the number rose from 1,865 to 1,934 over the same period and in Ribble Valley four more people were claiming out-of-work benefits.

Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle said: “This is welcome news, though of course we need to continue working to build a stronger economy and a fairer society by bringing more jobs and investment to Burnley.

“The Government's Youth Contract and Work Programme are starting to have a positive effect and we are seeing the benefits in Burnley of the work done over the years by myself and the former Lib Dem-run Council to bring employment to our town.”

Unemployment fell by 10,900 from 1,286,400 in November to 1,275,500 in December in England.

It means that 41,600 people more people across the country were in work last month than during the same period the year before.