North Walsham's Jobcentre Plus with its boarded windows.

Unemployment in the East fell by 4,000 in the three months to June, official figures have revealed.

Unemployment in the East fell by 4,000 in the three months to June, official figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that a total of 205,000 people were unemployed in the region between April and June.

Across Norfolk, Fenland and Waveney the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance in the last quarter dropped 6pc from 23,457 to 22,042. But year on year it was a less positive picture with numbers increasing 1.4pc from 21, 731 in July 2011 to July 2012.

It was a mixed picture across the district areas with Broadland, Fenland, North Norfolk and South Norfolk all seeing a decline, but Breckland, Norwich, Waveney, Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn all saw jobseeker figures up year on year.

Great Yarmouth saw a 4.4pc year on year increase, but the worst hit was King’s Lynn and West Norfolk district which saw its jobseeker figures up 5.2pc to 2,724.

The worst area in the UK was Yorkshire and the Humber which recorded a 25,000 increase in the number of people without a job.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The latest job market figures are encouraging, and act as a welcome contrast to recent pessimism about the UK economy, but there are still areas of concern.

“Youth unemployment is unacceptably high, and too many people are still being forced to work part-time as they cannot find a full-time job. While unemployment is likely to increase over the next 12 to 18 months, the peak may now be lower than the 2.9m figure we predicted in our last forecast.

“Overall, these figures show positive trends in the UK labour market and are difficult to reconcile with other ONS figures, which show three consecutive GDP declines since the end of 2011.”

Unite’s general secretary Len McCluskey said: “The unemployment figures are nothing to crow about. They stand as a dire reminder of George Osborne’s continuing failure to have a coherent economic and fiscal policy.

“The Olympic Games showed what this country can achieve with a common goal and by pulling together in the same direction.

“However, this Government only wants to reward its favourite players, such as the bankers and the wealthy, while the legions of the young unemployed, aged between 16 and 24, and increasingly women, face a grim search for work.”