SWINDON appears to be weathering the introduction of the new National Living Wage according to the latest figures released by the Job Centre.

“Overall the labour market in Swindon continues to perform well,” said manager Julie Marshall .

There was a slight drop in confidence because of 'global headwinds' and the new wage, which means people over 25 are now entitled to a minimum of £7.20 an hour.

“Employers are obviously adjusting slightly to that,” she said.

But at the end of the financial year the centre had received a number of inquiries from employers seeking to recruit new staff. The main areas were in care services and construction, with quite a few from shop fitting companies.

In fact there was still a skill shortage in some fields including care and HGV driving.

Insurance company BeWiser was recruiting consultants for its new offices in Edison Park, Dorcan at £8 an hour, starting with a 12-week training course. The firm would be taking 10 to 12 people every three weeks and by the end of the process would have taken on 300 people.

The news comes as national unemployment figures show an increase of 21,000 to 1.7 million between December and February.

Figures for the whole of the southwest showed employment rates at 72.9 per cent for women and 74.1 per cent generally – a record, she said.

And there were three quarters of a million job vacancies waiting to be filled in the region

Average wage increases over the year before bonuses were at 2.2 per cent. Nationally 31.4 million people were in employment, up 20,000 on the past quarter and 360,000 on the year.

However, according to the Office for National Statistics, the national total for the number of women in employment dropped by 40,000 to 14.6 million while male employment was nearly at 16.8 million - the highest since records started 45 years ago.

Unemployment numbers for Swindon this month were 1,895 - down from 1,910.