THE number of unemployed people in the two counties has fallen, in line with national figures.

Figures released on Friday showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Britain has fallen to a 26-year low.

The figures were released two days later than usual due to a delay in collecting information caused by the extended Jubilee Weekend.

The figures showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit during May had fallen to 944,600, down 7,000 compared with April.

In Worcester, the number of jobless people fell from 1,616 to 1,565. This represents 1.9 per cent of the workforce, well below the figure for the West Midlands which shows that 5.6 per cent of the region's workforce is now unemployed.

The total number of unemployed people in Worcestershire in May stood at 5,444, down 208 people since April. This means that two per cent of Worcestershire's workforce is unemployed.

Malvern, Evesham and Kidderminster all recorded drops in the number of jobless people in May compared with April.

In Malvern, the figure now stands at 357, compared with 382 in April. In Evesham, the figure is 349, compared with 366.

In Kidderminster, the number of jobless stood at 1,210 in May compared with 1,257 in April, a drop of 3.7 per cent.

Herefordshire also recorded a drop in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit, with 1,532 people unemployed in the county in May. This compares with 1,641 in April.

Hereford's jobless total reduced from 1,298 to 1,204, and now represents 1.8 per cent of the workforce. Leominster's jobless figure is 233, compared with 245 last month.

Nationally, the latest jobless total is the lowest since autumn 1975. The jobless rate, of 3.1 per cent, is the best since the summer of 1975.

"The number of people in work reached a record 28.47 million in the three-months to April, with 88,000 more people in work than the previous three-month period," said Nick brown, Minister for Work, on Friday.

There was a fall of 1,000 in the number of men in work, but this was offset by a rise of 89,000 women in employment.

The loss of manufacturing jobs, however, continued, with 173,000 jobs going in the three-months to April.

All manufacturing sectors suffered, with 60,000 going from the electrical and optical equipment sector, 26,000 from textiles, leather and clothing, and 27,000 from metal products.