UNEMPLOYMENT blackspots across the North-East will be targeted by seven new action teams set up by the Employment Service.

The teams have been given the task of finding innovative and creative ways to help people into work, with each receiving a cash injection of £1.5m.

The areas highlighted as suffering severe employment problems are Easington, Hartlepool, Stockton, Sunderland, Chester-le-Street, South Tyneside and Wansbeck.

Vince Robinson, director for the Employment Service in the Northern Region, said: "I welcome the opportunity action teams present to make a real difference in these communities.

"There are many reasons for the low levels of people in employment in these areas and the Action Teams have the flexibility to address the issues which inhibit people taking up job opportunities.

The seven team leaders are now in place together with their teams of advisors. Many of the team members have been brought in because of their expertise in a certain area and include people with experice of the benefits service, community work as well as people who actuallty live in the target areas.

Team leader Elaine Connolly said: "We wanted to bring together a group of people with a wide range of knowledge and experience so that we can develop solutions together.

"The overriding aim is to ensure we help people overcome the problems that stop them getting a job."

Each of the teams will work with any jobless person whether or not they are in receipt of benefit. Participation is voluntary for both individuals and employers.

l Unemployment fell again last month according to data from the Office for National Statistics, with analysts predicting a figure below one million before the end of the year.

The figures, as measured by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) method which includes people who are not on benefit, fell to a record low of 1,568,000 between June and August. The rate has been over a million since December 1975.

In the North-East the numbers of unemployed fell by 1,000 to 111,000 and in Yorkshire & The Humber the figure was at 152,000, down 2,000