UNEMPLOYMENT in East Lancashire has dropped significantly in the last six years, new figures have revealed.

The Ribble Valley has seen the largest drop with a decrease of 46 per cent since 2010, with just 225 people out of work, while Pendle’s rate has also fallen by 40 per cent to 1,065, according to statistics from the Office for National Statistics.

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In the past year Burnley has seen a 17 per cent rise in unemployment in the last 12 months, to 1,635, but overall since 2010 the rate in the borough has dropped by 26 per cent.

In Blackburn with Darwen the number of people out of work has gone down 31 per cent since 2010 to 2,410.

Cathy Ross, employer partnership manager at the Job Centre in Blackburn, said the town was now full of opportunity.

She said: “We have got a vibrant town centre with hospitality places in particular cropping up all the time.

“We’ve had new Costa Coffees, Subway and we are now looking at employment in Krispy Kreme.

“There is a lot of opportunity in this sector which is a lot down to the work the council has done, particularly in the Cathedral Quarter.

“We are also heavily involved with Access Ability based at Blackburn Rovers now, which focuses on getting people with disabilities into work.

“We have 17 people in the employability club now, one is in work, another is on a traineeship programme and lots of them are updating their CVs.”

In Hyndburn 1,155 people are unemployed, a drop of 30 per cent in the last six years, and in Rossendale the number of people out of work has dropped 31 per cent to 845.

The figures also revealed the number of women in work in the North West has reached a record high of 69.9 per cent.

The unemployment rate across the region remains at an 11-year low of 4.8 per cent and there are 294,000 more people in work compared to this time last year.

Long-term unemployment is the lowest it has been since 2008.

Andrew Stephenson, Pendle MP, said: “The fall in unemployment in the borough is really encouraging.

“We have seen a rise in jobs but also a lot of young people taking on apprenticeships, so subsequently a fall in youth unemployment.

“Obviously there is more work to be done and I will continue to work with employers to try and ensure that rate keeps falling.”

Wages in the North West have also grown by 2.7 per cent and there are around 750,000 vacancies at any one time.

Employment minister Damian Hinds said: “Employment continues to run at a near-record high, unemployment remains at an 11-year low and both figures are stronger than this time last year.”