A RECORD number of people are in work according to the latest figures released by the Government, with the job market in Swindon looking prosperous according to the town’s job centre.

In the last month, there were 2,000 people in work or on universal credit. The new benefit replaces previous benefits such as child tax credit and housing benefit.

Julie Marshall, Swindon’s Jobcentre Plus work coach, said the job market in Swindon is on the up, with a number of new jobs on the horizon for the town.

“Things that are going on in the area obviously include a heavy labour market which is still robust and we have lots of contracts that have been extended well into this year,” she said.

And she added: “Security positions and retail assistant roles have continued to thrive and the job market is also continuing to show a strong demand for HGV qualified drivers.

“William Hill are advertising for customer service jobs and they have been holding pre-interviews with candidates in the job centre.”

The team, based in Princes Street, has also added an additional 10 jobs for security officers as well as four retail jobs at Family Bargains to the system and over the last month, and have seen companies like Pep&Co, Specsavers, Super Cuts and Helen Douglas advertise for a range of positions.

Julie, who runs group information sessions to match people’s skills to jobs, added that she hopes a number of events coming up will boost the local job market further.

“We will be holding our Job Fest on February 23 between 1pm to 6pm at Steam. The main aim of the event is for 16-24-year-olds and there will be lots of employers to talk about different careers and apprenticeships.

“Overall, it is a very positive picture although we have had a slight increase in our 18-24 customers but not by that many. There’s quite a lot going on and there are definitely a lot of positives coming out of the job market.”

The latest data released by the Office for National Statistics has shown the jobless total dipped to 1.69m in the final quarter of last year, a rate of 5.1 per cent – the lowest since the end of 2005.

More than 31.4m people are in work, the highest since records began in 1971 and the number of people on the claimant count, including Jobseeker’s Allowance, fell by 14,800 last month to 760,200, the lowest since the summer of 1975.

ONS statistician Nick Palmer said: “While the employment rate continues to hit new highs and there are more job vacancies than ever previously recorded, earnings growth remains subdued and markedly below the recent peak of mid-2015.”