Darlington has weathered the effects of the recession and subsequent economic downturn better than the rest of the Tees Valley, a report claims.

But unemployment among young people is one of the highest in the UK and the gap between wealthy and deprived areas of the town has increased since before the recession, the borough council's Economic Overview report concluded.

Figures show that Darlington's gross value added score per head of population increased from £16,164 in 2005 to £19,266 in 2008.

This increased the town's position in relation to the national average by 2.5 per cent, meaning the figure is now 93.8 per cent of the national average.

During the same period, Tees Valley's relative position fell by 0.4 per cent to 76.5 per cent of the national average.

Unemployment rates show that, in December last year, Darlington had 2,894 people out of work.

This is a fall of 0.6 per cent since December 2009 and puts the town 1.4 per cent below the Tees Valley average and 0.2 per cent below the NorthEast average.

The unemployment rate for people aged under 25 is 30.1 per cent, putting Darlington in the top 20 UK towns for out-of-work young people.

The gap between prosperous and more deprived areas is still significant.

Figures show that in the ward with the highest unemployment - Northgate - one in ten people are unemployed.

There is also a 6.8 per cent gap between the five wealthiest and five poorest wards in the percentage of people claiming Job Seekers' allowance.

The latest employment rate information shows the town's rate is down 2.6 per cent between 2008 and 2010, from 71.3 per cent to 68.7 per cent. This is higher than the Tees Valley and North-East rates, but 1.7 per cent lower than the national average of 70.4 per cent.

The report, written by the council's director of place Richard Alty concludes: "Darlington's economy continues to perform relatively strongly compared to the Tees Valley and the North-East as a whole in terms of gross economic output, employment, levels of worklessness, people on outof-work benefits and qualification levels. Overall, wage levels have continued to improve and small business growth shows a positive upward trend.

"However, there still remain significant differences between the more prosperous and less prosperous wards within the borough."

The report will be discussed at the economy and environment scrutiny committee on Thursday, at 9.30am.