DORSET is getting ever closer to zero unemployment, despite official figures going up after changes to the calculations, it is claimed.

David McArthur, Bournemouth-based business development manager with the Department for Work and Pensions, said there were hundreds of new job vacancies available.

Official figures released yesterday show a 23 per cent year-on-year increase in benefit claimants in Bournemouth, 26 per cent in Christchurch and 24 per cent in Poole.

But Mr McArthur pointed out that Universal Credit claimants are now included in the figures, including some who are not receiving any financial support from the government.

Claimants of the new benefit currently continue to figure in the statistics for the six months in which they receive Job Centre Plus support, even when they are earning above the threshold that disqualifies them from benefits.

“There are hundreds of jobs vacancies available and we’re getting closer and closer to zero unemployment,” Mr McArthur said.

He pointed out that claimant counts had fallen 47 per cent in Bournemouth since 2010, 51 per cent in Christchurch and 48 per cent in Poole.

“Since 2010, you’re still looking at fantastic figures,” he said.

“In Christchurch, youth unemployment has dropped 73 per cent since 2010.

“Even with the universal credit figures included, these are still amazing figures, especially with youth unemployment.”

Bournemouth Jobcentre Plus holds a Jobs Fair today, 10am-2pm, at 1 Cotlands Road, Bournemouth.

Among the employers represented will be Ask Italian and TGI Fridays, both of whom will be hiring for new restaurants in the BH2 leisure complex at Exeter Road. Others include Debenahms, iSupply, Domestic Angels and Agincare.

Mr McArthur said: “The work ethic of local people is fantastic, as we saw at the Daily Echo Jobs Fair recently. With our jobs fair and the number of vacancies out there it can only be a good thing. Dorset really is going from strength to strength.”

In Bournemouth, there were 1,895 people claiming Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit in September, up 355 per cent on the previous year’s figures, which were for Jobseekers Allowance only.

In Poole, the claimant count stood at 1,020, up 195 year-on-year, and in Christchurch it was 245, up 50.

East Dorset had 315 claimants (up 55, 21 per cent), New Forest 635 (35, up six per cent), North Dorset 235 (up 15, seven per cent), Purbeck 160 (down 10, six per cent), West Dorset 350 (up 35, 11 per cent) and Weymouth and Portland 535 (up 55, 11 per cent).

Nationally, unemployment held broadly steady, rising 10,000 to 1.66million, while the claimant count was 776,400, down 15,700 year-on-year but up 700.