THE number of people out of work and claiming benefit in Oxfordshire rose again last month, new figures have revealed.
There are now 9,633 people on the dole, a rise of 459 or five per cent from the March figure of 9,174. That means 2.4 per cent of Oxfordshire’s working population is now claiming benefit.
The county’s claimant count is the highest figure since October 1996 when the figure hit 10,175, according to records compiled by the Oxford Mail.
Nationally there are now 1,557,616 people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance, or more than double the number that were claiming the benefit this time last year.
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