UNEMPLOYMENT rose slightly in the St Albans district last month compared with December. The number of people claiming Jobseeker s Allowance went up from 1,683 in December to 1,786 in January, which mirrors the rise in unemployment across both Hertfordshi

UNEMPLOYMENT rose slightly in the St Albans district last month compared with December.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance went up from 1,683 in December to 1,786 in January, which mirrors the rise in unemployment across both Hertfordshire and the UK as a whole.

The increase in the claimant count in Herts was the first for five months and the largest since February 2009 and all of the districts in the county experienced increases in the actual number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.

Since January 2009, the number of unemployed males has gone up by nearly 40 per cent and the increase in female claimants is even higher at just over 55 per cent.

The results also show that there were 283 Jobcentre Plus unfilled vacancies in January, which is nearly 70 less than there were in December.

Portfolio Holder for culture and heritage at the District Council Melvyn Teare said that he was not surprised by the results: "People generally think that we are moving out of the recession but the St Albans district was late going into it and so I would make the assumption that we will be late coming out of it."

He added: "It is probably going to get a little bit worse before it starts to pick up. Hopefully we will see an improvement by Easter time.