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Number of Isle of Wight residents seeking out of work benefits

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that 5,245 people in the Isle of Wight area were claiming ‘out of work benefits’ during January 2021 – these figures also includes Universal Credit figures.

That’s a rise of 45 since December 2020, when there were 5,200 claimants, and a rise of 2,765 from January 2020 (2,480 JSA claimants).

Breakdown of claimants
Of those claiming in January 2021,

  • 3,125 were male
  • 2,120 were female
  • 10 were 16-17
  • 1,070 were aged 18 To 24
  • (610 were aged 18 To 21)
  • 2,730 were aged 25 To 49
  • 1,435 were aged 50+

That means 6.6% of the resident population of area aged 16-64 is claiming out of work benefits – 1.5% more than the rest of the South East (5.1), and 0.4% more than the whole of the UK (6.2%).

Image: dragontomato under CC BY 2.0