THE number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in the Liverpool city region has remained almost flat over the past month rising by just 54 people to 54,356.

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, St Helens saw the biggest rise of the six boroughs up 0.7% to 5,494.

Both Halton and Sefton saw their claimant count drop slightly by 1.1% and 0.6% respectively. Liverpool's claimant count was up 0.3% to 21,007 Wirral's rose 0.4% to 8,686 and Knowsley's by 0.2% to 6,266.

Across the UK, unemployment reached a 17-year high after a 118,000 increase in the jobless total, which saw a record number of young people out of work

The figure jumped to 2.68m in the three months to November, the worst since the summer of 1994, giving the UK a jobless rate of 8.4%.

The number of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds increased by 52,000 over the quarter to 1.04m, the highest since records began in 1992.

And the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in December increased by 1,200 to 1.6m, the highest for a year after the 10th consecutive monthly rise.

Other figures showed that almost a million working days were lost in November as a result of the public sector pensions strike.

The ONS reported that the number of people in full-time employment fell by 57,000 in the latest three months.