UNEMPLOYMENT in the UK has fallen for the third month in a row, but thousands of manufacturing jobs continue to be lost every week, figures revealed yesterday.

The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits dropped by 200 last month to 946,000, the second lowest total since 1975, the Office for National Statistics said.

John Irwin, president of the North-East Chamber of Commerce, said: "Unemployment in the North-East has dropped steadily and we have made good progress towards narrowing the gap that still exists between this region and other areas of the country."

Last week County Durham suffered a double blow when Black & Decker, in Spennymoor, said 950 jobs would be lost by next year and, on the same day, Weardale Steel, in Wolsingham, closed, leaving 70 employees out of work.

Figures for the North-East for the three months to August showed the region's employment rate was 69.1 per cent - up 0.5 per cent on the previous year - while the unemployment rate was 6.3 per cent, compared with 0.9 per cent a year earlier.

The claimant count in the year to September was five per cent, a fall of 0.3 per cent.

The number of people unemployed in the Yorkshire and Humber region was 5.4 per cent, unchanged on the same period last year, but in North Yorkshire the number of people claiming benefit was down by 528 to a total of 4,987.

Unemployment under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition, which counts all people looking for work in the UK, fell by 5,000 between June and August to 1,568,000.

But there was more gloomy news from manufacturing, where 163,000 jobs were lost in the three months to August.

The total number of jobs in the sector has fallen to 3.6m, a record low.

Manufacturing productivity fell by 0.3 per cent in the three months to August compared with a year earlier