Henry Smith MP has welcomed figures showing that unemployment is at its lowest rate since 1975 and over three million more people are in work since 2010. This means 4,647,000 people are in work in the south east of England; an increase of 455,000 compared to 2010.

Henry said;

“In Crawley, the unemployment rate has fallen by 59 per cent since 2010.

“Nationally, the number of people out of work has fallen by over a million. Over the last seven and a half years more than three million more people are in work, with the security of a regular pay packet.

“The number of unemployed young people in Crawley has fallen by more than three quarters since 2010.

“Across the country there are over 400,000 fewer young people out of work in the same time period, and the number of people in work and the number of full-time jobs in the workforce are at record highs.”

In 2017, more than 10 employment records were broken. The employment rate and the number of people in work, the number of women in work and black and minority ethnic employment all reached record highs during the year.

The level of people out of work is at its lowest in four decades. Full-time employment is at a record new high of 23.65 million and the UK has the third highest employment rate in the G7.

This is due to the action of the Conservative government which is continuing to be taken to support people into work, through cutting taxes on business, reforming the welfare system and investing in skills.