Workers from areas of high unemployment are finding work in Oxfordshire and helping to combat the skills shortage in the county.

Hundreds of men from the North, South Wales and South West have found work in Oxford, often on a short-term contract basis. Many cannot afford to relocate their families to the city and so they stay in temporary accommodation and send their salaries home to keep their wives and children.

Research by the National Office of Statistics shows that in December less than two per cent of the population of Oxford was claiming unemployment benefit, compared to the national average rate of 3.6 per cent.

In stark contrast, the unemployment rate in Liverpool is well above the national average, at 7.8 per cent.

There, second generation unemployment is no rarity and many have found they cannot move away from their home town because the cost of property in other parts of the country is too high.

Scores of men from Liverpool are currently working at BMW's Cowley site, helping fit out the state-of-the-art car plant in time for the start of full-scale production of the new Mini in the late spring.

They work at the plant for several weeks at a time, usually seven days a week and live in expensive bed and breakfast accommodation, surviving on a diet of convenience foods.

They say they would prefer to work nearer to home but they cannot get permanent work in the area.

Some economic experts fear if the high cost of living here continues, Oxfordshire's economy could suffer a serious knock-on effect as a large amount of money earned in this area is being spent elsewhere, supporting a different local economy.