MORE than 3,000 people joined the jobless register in the Liverpool city region last month as unemployment continued its sharp climb.

Official figures released yesterday showed there had been a 7% monthly increase in the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance, now standing at 45,276.

Nationally, the number of people claiming increased for the 11th consecutive month to 1.16m, a rise of 9% and the highest figure since 2000.

There will be worse to come in next month’s figures, as the effects of tens of thousands of job cuts which have already been announced in January continue to filter through to the official data.

In the last fortnight alone, 240 jobs have been lost at Gibsons Foods, in Ellesmere Port, and a further 300 are likely to be lost at closure- threatened Bromborough meat- packing factory Tulip, as well as numerous other job loss announcements.

However, the city region has continued to out-perform the rest of the country, with Liverpool in particular proving to be more resilient than most.

In the last year, the claimant count for people living in the city has increased by 23%, just half of the national rise of 46%.

The city region, which also includes Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral, added 10,880 people – 32% – to its claimant count during 2008.

However, the region still has a much higher proportion of claimants, as 5% of the region’s potential workforce receive jobseeker’s allowance compared with just 3.1% nationally. Liverpool has the second-highest level in the country, of 6.3%.

Halton is one borough being especially badly hit, as its claimant count has risen 56% since January, 2008, more than double Liverpool’s 23% increase.

The picture is particularly bleak in the last two months, with 824 extra people receiving jobseeker’s allowance, up by more than one-quarter.

Despite the problems, economist Peter Stoney, an honorary senior fellow at Liverpool University Management School and director of the Liverpool Research Group in Macroeconomics, believes there are good reasons for the region to stay positive.

He said: “The research group have always been less pessimistic than the consensus forecast for two reasons.

“First, we have a much larger proportion of people working in the public sector. Secondly, we have fewer people exposed to direct unemployment from working in the financial services sector than other regions.”

He is also confident the massive intervention by governments and central banks will have an effect on the global economy.

“I think that so much medicine has been thrown at the problem, not just in the UK but also in Europe and the US, it would be very surprising if the medicine doesn’t have an effect by the end of this year, at the latest. We don’t expect the claimant count to go above 1.5m.

“The trouble at the moment is that all these companies are shedding jobs because the banks won’t support them. The banks have made a complete hash of it and it is understandable they are being cautious now.”

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jack Stopforth agrees the availability of credit remains a critical issue for businesses.

“Even though the figures show less bad news for Liverpool, it isn’t good news. We may have to condition ourselves to further rises in unemployment.

“Cashflow is the number one priority for businesses, so the lack of availability of credit is a serious issue.

“There’s a presumption that the banks will be reluctant to lend, but there’s also evidence of their reluctance. But, although companies are talking about impending cashflow, the reality is that they are still investing and still employing.”