BLACKPOOL'S employees are the lowest paid in Lancashire and the town is the 29th poorest locality in the UK.

The figures revealing the poor status of people in the resort were highlighted in a Library Plan for this year put together by council staff.

The report -- which outlines the libraries' plans to address the cultural and learning needs of Blackpool people -- also states that many of the resort's residents are socially excluded and have "high levels of benefit dependency as well as poor health and education achievement levels."

Council data officers verified the figures, which had been compiled from a number of government surveys.

Figures showing that Blackpool's workers are Lancashire's lowest paid comes from a New Earnings Survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics in 2000.

The figures for 2001 are due out in March but data officers at Blackpool Council do not expect them to show an improvement in Blackpool's low status.

An officer from the council's economic development department said: "These things tend not to move round a lot from one year to the next and we haven't had a great amount of new jobs created in the town."

Blackpool's rating as 29th poorest in the country comes from a Government survey of gross domestic products per capita -- an estimate of the incoming money per head of the population.

The figure for Blackpool in 1998 -- the latest survey -- was £8,899 per person.

And these latest figures actually mark an improvement. The previous survey in 1996 showed Blackpool was the UK's 12th poorest locality.

Coun Roy Lewis, cabinet member for regeneration and tourism, said that councillors were aware of the high deprivation levels in the town.

"The reason we get Single Regeneration Budget money is because of the deprivation in the town," he said. "Our hope for the future is that by bringing in jobs to the town it will drive the poverty of the town away slowly. This is what we've been fighting for since the Labour Party has been in power in Blackpool."

He said the holiday industry was a main jobs provider, but the jobs were often temporary and the council wanted to widen job opportunities outside tourism. Coun Lewis pointed out 70 potential jobs which could be generated with the building of a new office block on Blackpool Business Park, off Squires Gate Lane, which began last week.

He also mentioned the technology management centre in the Ingethorpe area of Blackpool which was set up from regeneration funds and Blackpool Business Park, which has created 1,000 jobs.

"We are trying to attract business people in the private sector to come in and use the skills we have in Blackpool and provide an extra avenue of employment. This is what we want to do for the people of Blackpool.

"We also want to improve the tourist industry to make that attractive and provide more job security in the tourist sector. For example, the proposed casinos can be an all-year round attraction providing more, better paid jobs.

"These may provide jobs for people not immediately thought of as attractive to employers on business parks. Leisure Parcs has an all-year round workforce.

"And we are trying to develop the town centre. We have hopes that the Hounds Hill Centre will provide retail jobs and the new light rail network replacing the tramway will also need more skilled workers. That's what regeneration is all about."