The number of people claiming job seekers allowance has reduced by more than a fifth in Ealing, as revealed by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Today’s figures (December 17) show a total of 5,371 claimants in the borough in November (2014), down 21.5 per cent since the start of the operational year (April) when there were 6,840.

In October there were 5,553 claimants in Ealing.

Jaskaran Rai, Job Centre Plus district operations manager for Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon said: “Morrisons is due to open near west Ealing in January and we have been working very closely with them.

“There were 167 vacancies and 80 per cent of those have been filled by Ealing residents. We have got great figures in terms of getting local residents in.”

He added: “We are also working closely with Noon Products, a food manufacturer in Southall with 115 vacancies. We have just done a round of interviews.”

Commenting on the figures nationally, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith said: “These remarkable figures show our long term economic plan to create a better more prosperous future for Britain is working. Behind them are countless stories of individual hard work and determination, with more people than ever before feeling financially secure.”