EMPLOYMENT is buoyant in the South-West, reflecting the fall in the UK jobless rate to 4.9% – the lowest since July 2005, according to official figures.

Some 2.7 million people in the region are in work – a rate of 77.9%. Nationally 31.7 million people are in employment – a rate of 77.4%.

In the Taunton Deane Borough Council area 785 people were seeking work in June, compared with 790 the previous month and 735 in June 2015 and 975 in June 2014.

The number of school leavers and students finishing in education may also increase unemployment, although the impact of that may be reduced by positive seasonal factors.