THE North-East bucked the national trend again after figures showed unemployment had fallen by 8,000 to 5.5 per cent over the past month.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics showed jobs continued to be lost in manufacturing, down to a record low of 3.23 million across the UK in the quarter to March, 82,000 lower than a year ago.

Across the UK, the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefit increased for the third month in a row.

Total unemployment, including those not eligible for Job Seekers' Allowance, fell by 15,000 to 1.4 million in the three months to March, the lowest since last autumn.

There were 4,000 working days lost through industrial disputes in March, the lowest for that month since records began in 1931.

The UK continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world at 4.7 per cent, compared with 9.8 per cent in France and Germany, 10.2 per cent in Spain and 5.2 per cent in the United States.

Unemployment in the North-East fell by 8,000 to 66,000, or five per cent of the working population.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, it fell by 12,000 to 104,000, or an unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent.