A BOROUGH’S unemployment levels have rocketed by 26 per cent, according to council figures.

Although official employment figures are only updated as far as 2007, Hyndburn Borough Council’s own analysis show a rise this year twice the national unemployment increase of 0.3 per cent.

Latest figures show unemployment in Hyndburn rose 26 per cent from 1.9 per cent to 2.4 per cent of the working population between September 2007 and September 2008.

At Hyndburn Borough Council’s cabinet meeting, leader Peter Britcliffe said: “These latest figures are before the credit crunch really began to bite.

“We have had even gloomier news since then. The store in Accrington is so much a part of the town it is a real shock.

"It also makes you wonder what else is around the corner if Woolworths can be affected. Things are going to get even worse.”

In June it was announced that 260 Thomas Cook call centre jobs would go at the Globe Centre but 150 jobs were saved in a takeover by Sitel.

More than 80 workers at the Hanson Building Products factory lost their jobs at the end of October when the Whinney Hill Road site closed.

The loss of 120 jobs at Accrington’s Revenue and Customs office was announced in March and the loss of 60 jobs at Joseph Metcalf gardening supplies in Oswaldtwistle was announced in June.

The council say they arrived at these latest figures by comparing the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance to the number of people of working age in the borough.

Compiling the report, Scott Butterfield, the council’s principal policy and research officer, said that while the rise was greater than the UK as a whole, it was thought to be slightly less than unemployment rises in other areas.

In his report, Mr Butterfield said four of the five most deprived ‘priority wards’ (Barnfield, Church, Peel and Spring Hill had contributed most to the increase with at least 0.6 percent rises in each.

However, the fifth priority ward, Central had seen a one per cent drop.

Mr Butterfield added that increases were not limited to ‘priority wards’ as the claimant rate in Milnshaw had increased 1.3 per cent.