Jobless rate down by a fifth in past year

According to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, there are 187 fewer claimants in the borough since July 2013.

The latest statistics indicate a total of 724 claimants locally, 501 male and 223 fe-male.

These have increased by four since June. There are 2005 claimants across East Antrim. This figure has dropped by 538, 21.2 per cent since July 2013.

In Carrick , there were 905 claimants last month, 628 male and 277 female. In Newtownabbey, there were 1267 male and 549 female.

During the past 12 months, there has been an unemployment drop of 23.5 per cent in Carrick and 16.2

per cent in Newtownabbey.

The overall figure for NI shows an overall drop by 16 per cent or 10,038 claimants

since last July.

There are still 52, 6 2 8 claimants in the province although this figure is down by 264 since June.