Live Register sees fall in July

The number of people on the Live Register fell by more than 5,000 last month.

There was just over 300,000 people signing on in July, a decrease of 1.7%.

The number of men on the register dropped by 2,400 while there were 2,600 fewer women on the Live Register last month.

The figures for long-term claimants fell by more than 23,000, or 14%, in July to 141,981.

The number of men claiming unemployment benefit long term went down by 17,696, or 16.7%, in the year to July, while there were 5,745, or 9.6%, fewer females on the long-term unemployed list.