UNEMPLOYMENT has fallen to its lowest level since 2008 across the Bradford district.

The number of people claiming JobSeeker's Allowance fell to 11,710 in March, echoing a national trend, the last jobless figures before the General Election have shown.

This represents a drop of 42 per cent from its peak in the economic crisis, in February 2013, when more than 20,000 people were claiming the out-of-work benefit across the district.

There were 519 fewer people claiming JobSeeker's Allowance in March this year than there were a month before, a drop of more than four per cent.

Bradford West remains the constituency with the highest jobless total, where there are 3,563 claimants. Bradford East has 3,316, Bradford South has 2,335, Keighley has 1,349 and Shipley has 1,147.

Nationally, unemployment has continued to fall and a record 31 million people are now in work.

The jobless total fell by 76,000 to 1.84 million in the quarter to February, the lowest for almost seven years.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance fell by 20,700 in March to 772,400, the 29th consecutive monthly cut.

Other data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that more than 31 million people were in work after an increase of more than half a million in the past year, the biggest total since records began in 1971.

The UK's unemployment rate is now 5.6 per cent, a fall of 1.3 per cent since a year ago. The rate was 7.9 per cent in May 2010, when the last general election was held.

About 1.3 million people were in part-time jobs when they wanted full-time work, up by 29,000 in the latest quarter, while self-employment was little changed at 4.5 million.