2,088 of my constituents claimed Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) in April. That's down 120 or 5.4 per cent in the last month and 1.019 or 32.8 per cent on a year ago.
The news regarding youth unemployment is even better. Of the 2,088 Croydon Central residents claiming JSA in February, 470 were between the ages of 18 and 24. That's down 40 or 7.8 per cent in the last month but down 260 or 35.6 per cent on a year ago.
Unemployment in Croydon Central is now 799 or 27.7 per cent lower than when the Coalition came to power and youth unemployment is 305 or 39.4 per cent lower.
Across the country, more people are in work today than at any time in this country's history (1.6 million more than when Labour left office). 75% of the new jobs created are full-time.
There is absolutely no room for complacency. There are still far too many people out of work or in part time work when they would like a full time job. But these figures show that the Government was right to take tough choices to get the deficit under control. Labour opposed those tough choices - Ed Miliband said they would lead to a million more unemployed. They got it wrong when they were in government, borrowing too much money in the good times, and now we know they were wrong about how to clean up the mess too.