EMPLOYMENT minister Esther McVey praised Jobcentre Plus staff in North East Lincolnshire for their role in cutting unemployment in the borough by almost 30 per cent.
Ms McVey yesterday visited the Job Centre in Immingham, where she heard more about the work being done to help young people into work.
Latest figures show that 4.5 per cent of the working age population in North East Lincolnshire were claiming Job Seekers' Allowance (JSA) in June, down from 6.1 per cent a year ago.
And the minister said such encouraging figures were a result of the "culture change" being driven in job centres across the country, with added emphasis on tailoring the service to meet individual needs.
Ms McVey, who conducted a mock interview with a young job seeker during her visit, was invited to the area by Cleethorpes and Immingham MP Martin Vickers.
She said: "Martin invited me here to come along and see the work his local job centre was doing, particularly what it does to help young people into work such as the mock interviews, and also helping people aged over 45 into a new line of work.
"Job centres have to have the flexibility to do what is required for their particular area. You will have different businesses, different infrastructure and different needs in different parts of the country, and what I have seen here is that this job centre is very much focused around supporting people into local industries.
"That is what we have opened up – more freedom and flexibility."
Ms McVey said the current government was taking a more comprehensive approach to ensuring the nation's workforce was ready to take advantage of opportunities coming down the line.
"What I am doing is mapping jobs – not what's here today but what's going to be here in 20 years."
She also has this advice for young job seekers: "Don't just think about what you want to do now, but where you want to be in five to ten years. I work with claimants and the people providing the jobs and they are saying to me they want to see progression within the workplace."
Mr Vickers said the unemployment figures provided grounds for optimism, adding: "I come along to the job centre here once every two or three months and it's clear that staff are tailoring their help and advice to the requirements of individuals to a much greater extent."
