UNEMPLOYMENT has fallen throughout East Lancashire to its lowest level for more than 20 years, according to new Government statistics.

Blackburn with Darwen, with 2,895 people out of work, had the highest unemployment rate, joining Pendle as the only district in the area worse than the regional average.

And in the prosperous Ribble Valley, only 275 people are claiming benefit, representing just 1.1 per cent of the district's working population.

The new data is contained in the Government's Labour Market Statistics for June which presents a snapshot of the number of people in employment on May 10 throughout the country.

In Blackburn with Darwen, 4.3 per cent of the working population was unemployed, compared to a North West average of 3.8 per cent.

The figure, however, is still 0.5 per cent lower than at the same time last year, with an additional 333 people having found a job.

In Pendle, there was a slight fall in unemployment to 4 per cent, with 1,367 people out of work.

In Burnley, 986 men and 273 women were unemployed, bringing the district's unemployment rate down to 3.2 per cent.

Hyndburn had a slightly lower unemployment rate at 3.1 per cent , with 1,030 people claiming benefit.

Rossendale's rate was even better at 2.6 per cent, with the area's jobless total falling to 760. Chorley's jobless represented 2.8 per cent of the working population.