Wales jobless down a second month

Unemployment in Wales fell by 2,000 from March to June

Wales has defied a UK-wide rise in unemployment for the second month in a row, official figures show.

It was the only part of the UK to record a quarterly drop in the number of jobless in the three months to June, falling 2,000 to 108,000.

Across the UK, 220,000 jobs were lost in that time, taking unemployment to 2.43m, the highest for 14 years.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said it was "looking increasingly like an improving trend rather than a blip."

Mr Morgan said: "When I welcomed last month's figures, I cautioned that recession still has some way to go.

"That of course is still the case, but today's figures show that Wales' relative performance has continued to improve - and that's extremely encouraging in the light of the intense efforts that the assembly government has made to counter the impact of a global recession."

Just because these personal tragedies are not in public view do not mean that they are not happening

Jenny Randerson AM, Liberal Democrat

Deputy First Minister and Economy Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones added: "From the very outset of the downturn, the assembly government has striven to use its powers to maximum effect.

"We have acted swiftly and decisively to try to ensure that the impact of the crisis is as short and shallow as possible in Wales and I believe that our response to date has been effective."

However, unemployment in Wales remains 37,000 higher than it was at the same time last year.

The total for March to May this year was 107,000, a fall of 1,000 on the previous quarter.

Conservative economy spokesman David Melding said: "Unemployment continues to cast a dark cloud over the Welsh economy.

Wasted talent

"While we welcome this small fall in the number of people out of work, we must not lose sight of the fact 37,000 more people are unemployed in Wales than the same time last year and more people are economically inactive."

He added: "Behind these statistics is a tale of wasted talent, families struggling to make ends meet, and businesses fighting to survive Labour's recession."

Welsh Liberal Democrat Jenny Randerson said: "While the technical measure of unemployment fell in this period, we should not forget that these figures bear out some pretty bad news for Wales.

"We now have the third worst rate of economic activity in the UK and the fourth lowest rate of employment. Just because these personal tragedies are not in public view do not mean that they are not happening."