A STUDY to find out why unemployment went down faster in Bolton during the mid-1990s than most of Britain has just been published.

And it shows that initiatives across the borough - in particular City Challenge - have engineered a jobs boom.

Between 1993 and 1996, recorded unemployment fell throughout the UK but in Bolton - for the first time in 20 years - it dropped below the UK average.

Key findings from the study, commissioned by Bolton Council and Bolton TEC, were that between 1993 and 1996 the borough's claimant count fell by one third. Decline was greatest in the wards where unemployment was already lowest, and the most marked fall was amongst the long-term unemployed.

The report highlighted the fact that the "real" level of unemployment could be double that shown by official figures, and that in Bolton nearly twice as many long term claimants moved from the dole to sickness benefit than was the case nationally.

But it did commend the regeneration brought about by City Challenge and the Single Regeneration Budget. City Challenge alone created more than 2,000 jobs in the period and training schemes also made an important contribution to the reduction, particularly among the long-term unemployed.

Cllr Pauline Spencer said: "This report shows us that we are doing something right. Reports like this are invaluable because they show which schemes are working and will no doubt help us in the future."

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