Today’s announcement that there has been a sizeable drop in unemployment has been welcomes as good news for people with debt problems by debt solutions experts Baines and Ernst. Unemployment fell for the first time in almost two years with the number of people out of work in the three months to December falling by 7,000 to 2.46m, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The jobseeker's allowance claimant count fell for the second month in a row in December - down by 15,200 to 1.61m, which is the biggest monthly fall since April 2007.
The figures also revealed a 16,000 fall in the number of 16 to 24 year-olds out of work to 927,000.
Public sector employment increased by 23,000 to 6.09m between June and September last year, while private sector employment rose by 29,000.
The results have raised hopes the worst may be over for the jobs market, despite City forecasts. Analysts had expected the number out of work to reach 2.5m in November, an increase of 500,000 in just one year.
Nick Pearson, Director of External Affairs at Baines and Ernst commented “Falling levels of unemployment is good news not only for the British economy but also for people with debt problems. Unemployment is still a significant cause of people falling into debt with their credit and mortgage commitments. It is vital that people seek advice about their finances as soon as they lose their job rather than wait for the problems of non payment to escalate out of control.”