LIVERPOOL city region bucked the national trend last month as unemployment figures released yesterday showed its increase in jobseekers was significantly lower than the rest of the UK.

But there were renewed fears last night for workers at Jaguar Land Rover, in Halewood, after the car- maker announced it was cutting 200 jobs across the UK.

The company, taken over earlier this year by Indian giant Tata Motors, insists the move isn’t due to falling sales but is seeking voluntary redundancies from its 16,000 strong workforce.

It is not yet known how many of those could be on Merseyside, where the company employs around 2,000 people. This news provided a dark spot to what was generally a brighter picture for Merseyside employment yesterday, with the exception of St Helens.

The data from the Office of National Statistics showed only 666 additional people claimed in September across the six local authorities.

Nationally, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance increased sharply by 31,800 in September to 939,900, a rise of 2.3%. It is the eighth consecutive monthly rise and the highest figure for almost two years.

The longer-term trend also shows the city region’s claimant count is growing more slowly than the rest of the country.

In the last year, the UK claimant rate has increased 14.1% and the North West by 16.4%, while the Liverpool city region’s rate has grown by 12.7%.

Economist Peter Stoney, a director of Liverpool Research Group in Macroeconomics, said: “There are special circumstances in respect of Liverpool and Merseyside as there have been significant investments. The docks are doing well, so is the retail sector, and Culture year is doing well.

“We are going to be insulated from the worst effects in the short- term.”