The number of young people in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire looking for work has continued to fall this month.

As the latest claimant count statistics were published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), it was revealed that around 100 more people between the ages of 18 and 24 were in work compared to the previous year.

In Renfrewshire, the youth unemployment rate dropped by 13 per cent – the equivalent of 85 more youngsters in work over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, East Renfrewshire’s unemployment figures for 18 to 24-year-olds fell by 11 per cent, with 20 fewer youngsters seeking work.

While there were noticeable differences in the number of young people seeking work, overall unemployment stayed largely the same across both local authorities.

In Renfrewshire, overall claimant numbers went down by 30 to 3,140 – a drop of less than one per cent.

East Renfrewshire’s claimant figures dropped by 10 to 705.

Brian Fyles, of the DWP, said: “It is encouraging to see young people have opportunities to find work. A chunk of those who are no longer claiming have began further education. It is good to see people taking this route.

“With the change to Universal Credit, we have seen numbers go up and down quite a bit and the reality is it’s like a seesaw.

“The jobs and employment opportunities just aren’t there at this moment in time but we have made changes to accommodate this. Work experience will not be restricted by age and we are increasingly seeing people in their 30s and 40s taking this on who wouldn’t normally be interested.”

Throughout August and early September, a number of new roles have been created across the area.

As many as 20 roles could be created with the recent opening of Poundstretcher in Paisley, while Prime Staff are also recruiting for their centre in Linwood.

Meanwhile, recruitment training events have been held by Work East Renfrewshire in the past month.

In Scotland, the employment level has risen by 197,000 since 2010 to 2.63 million. Unemployment has fallen by 106,000 to 113,000 since 2010, with the rate reducing by 4.2 per cent.

Alok Sharma, Minister of State for Employment, said: “With the unemployment rate at its lowest level in 43 years, it is good to see that, for the sixth month in a row, wages have grown faster than inflation – helping to put more money in people’s pockets.

“In the last quarter, regular pay is up by 2.9 per cent – 0.5 per cent above inflation.”