Merseyside now has an unemployment rate of 6.3%, ranging from 5.3% in St Helens to 7.6% in Liverpool.

Sara Williams, director of enterprise development at St Helens Chamber, this week said there was “a real aura of confidence growing in the St Helens business community”.

Her claim was backed up by yesterday’s figures, which showed a fall in claimants in the borough for the third time in four months.

Nationally, the number of claimants rose by 20,800 in September to 1.63m – the lowest increase since May last year.

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s flagship new Hilton hotel has taken more than 40 young people off the dole through a Government initiative aimed at tackling youth unemployment.

The 215-room hotel, which opens next month, is the final piece in the jigsaw of the Liverpool One development.

More than 100 staff were recruited through Jobcentre Plus, of which 42 are 18 to 24-year-olds. They were taken on under a Government initiative called Backing Young Britain.

Department for Work and Pensions minister Jonathan Shaw, who visited the hotel to meet the young recruits yesterday, said: “There will be no let-up in our determination to help young people with opportunities for employment and training during this recession, so we can get out of it as soon as possible.”

The jobs at the hotel are a mixture of full and part-time jobs in housekeeping, bar and restaurant work, and in the kitchen.