Jobs cheer (From The Oxford Times)

Jobs cheer

6:00am Thursday 18th June 2009 in

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Jobless figures released this week give some encouragement to Oxfordshire if not large parts of the country. The flow of job losses we saw at the end of last year and the start of this year has stopped.

Unemployment in the county rose by only four while it rose by more than 200,000 nationally.

In most areas of Oxfordshire outside the city of Oxford, unemployment went down.

It does not mark the end of difficulties for this county and we could see increases in unemployment in future months.

It does, however, once again highlight the resilience of the local economy. We have recently reported on new shops opening in Witney and West Oxfordshire with the prospect of hundreds of jobs.

A return to real growth may still be a year or more away. When it does return, all the evidence suggests that Oxfordshire is well placed to take advantage.