young people looking at a laptop

Fall in number of Isle of Wight residents seeking out of work benefits

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that 5,525 people in the Isle of Wight area were claiming ‘out of work benefits’ during March 2021 – these figures also includes Universal Credit figures.

That’s a fall of 30 since February 2021, when there were 5,555 claimants, and a rise of 2,945 from March 2020 (2,580 JSA claimants).

Breakdown of claimants
Of those claiming in March 2021,

  • 3,270 were male
  • 2,255 were female
  • 5 were 16-17
  • 1,080 were aged 18 To 24
  • (595 were aged 18 To 21)
  • 2,895 were aged 25 To 49
  • 1,535 were aged 50+

That means 6.9% 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 (5.4%), and 0.4% more than the whole of the UK (6.5%).

Image: John Schnobrich under CC BY 2.0