CENTRAL Devon MP Mel Stride has welcomed new job figures released last week that show the highest rate of female employment, the highest rate of overall employment since comparable records began in 1971 and a big annual drop in youth unemployment in his constituency.

There were 31.75-million people in work in period April-June 2016, 172,000 more than the previous quarter and 606,000 more than this time last year. Only 2.2% of the UK workforce are now in receipt of unemployment benefits — close to the lowest since 1975.

Mr Stride hailed the ‘exceptional’ set of figures and pointed to the number of job vacancies as an indication that levels of employment could improve further over the coming months. He said: ‘It is very clear that six years of pro-business policies that have encouraged new businesses to start up and encouraged existing ones to grow are having a very positive impact on the marketplace. It is especially good to see female employment at an all-time high and youth unemployment at only 5.8 per cent; nearly the lowest on record.

‘Eight times more businesses are currently saying they are looking to increase their workforce than reduce it — a statistic mirrored by the 740,000 job vacancies currently being advertised across the UK. Despite these outstanding figures there must not be any complacency and the economic recovery will remain one of the Government’s top priorities.’

Disposable income has now exceeded its pre-downturn value in 2007/08 with wages continuing to rise well ahead of inflation.

In Mr Stride’s Central Devon constituency youth unemployment has fallen by 11.8% in the past year so 75 people aged 16 to 24 are reliant on out-of-work benefits.