The number of people out of work and claiming unemployment benefit in East Anglia fell last month, according to the latest job figures.

Both Norfolk and Suffolk saw a modest fall in the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance between May and June, while Cambridgeshire saw a small increase in claimants.

While each district of Norfolk saw a drop in people out of work last month, the number of benefits claimants in Great Yarmouth, Norwich, Broadland and South Norfolk is still higher than the same month in 2010.

There was a similar picture in Suffolk, where the month-to-month fall in claimants masks the year-on-year increase.

Across the UK, the latest figures show a fall in unemployment between March and May to 2.45 million and a rise in the number of people in work to nearly 29.3 million.

But nationally, the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in June rose by 24,500.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: 'There continue to be some encouraging signs in the labour market figures, particularly with the continued rise in private sector employment. It's really important that we continue to support the economy and encourage businesses to invest and create jobs.

'However, we do not underestimate the scale of the challenge that we face to help people into employment. We always said that the road to recovery would be choppy; for people who lose their jobs our new Work Programme is now up and running and will offer jobseekers flexible support tailored to their needs to help them into employment.'

For more on this story, see tomorrow's EDP.