Figures for unemployment in Pendle, published this morning, show that 2,108 people were out of work and claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance.

This represents a rate of 5.4% of the economically active population, the 304th highest of the 646 UK constituencies and just below the national average. The UK average rate is 5.5%

The number of claimants is 1,120 higher than in March 2008.

Unemployment in Pendle during the 1992-97 Conservative Government peaked at 3,237 in August 1993.

Speaking from Westminster, the Pendle MP said: "Everyone knows we are entering a global recession which is hitting every country hard and, unfortunately, unemployment is rising. However, the Government is not sitting on its hands and doing nothing. It is actively supporting businesses and industries where it can."

"I will never forget Norman Lamont, a previous Conservative Chancellor, telling us that "unemployment was a price well worth paying" to get the economy back on an even keel. It was wrong then to use unemployment as a tool of economic management and it would be wrong now. That is why the Government is steering a different course to get us through this recession."

"The recession facing us was triggered by a financial collapse in the United States. In this respect it is very different from the recession of the early 1990s which saw interest rates at 15% and inflation at 10%."

The MP added: "This recession is not home manufactured but imported."

The Office for National Statistics publishes a Labour Market Profile for every constituency in the UK. Visit http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/pca/contents.aspx

The percentages shown by the ONS show claimants as a percentage of the working age population, rather than the number of economically active of working age as detailed above.