THERE has been no change in the number of people in Shropshire with jobs in the last month, however those claiming Universal Credit is down 19 per cent on a year ago.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions also show the number of people employed in the West Midlands is at 2.78 million – up 32,000 on the quarter.

Steve Orton, customer service leader for Shropshire said work was still underway to get people back into employment across the region.

"Locally we have a great number of jobs through the Kickstart scheme, with incredible variety of roles and sectors – administration, retail, creative, social care, hospitality and food as well as IT and construction," he said.

"We currently have almost 400 vacancies available for 18-24 year olds across the county and up to today 369 young people have started a Kickstart opportunity across the county.

"Although the total number of people claiming hasn't changed there is a great deal of movement in people moving onto benefits and off them into work.

"We have recruited many new work coaches in our jobcentre Plus offices in Shropshire to ensure that everyone gets the help they need to move in to the jobs that are available."

Meanwhile the MP for Employment, Mims Davies MP added: "In the past year we have supported over 14.5 million people across the country through our Plan for Jobs including through the Kickstart Scheme. We know that it's not been possible to save every job, but we have protected as many as we can, while helping new jobseekers through our DWP programmes to secure work.

"There is still work to do as today's figures show, but importantly we're on the right track and pushing for recovery – with a sustained rise in the number of people on payrolls, including 135,000 more young people in work this month, and another rise in vacancies on offer as we continue on our roadmap."