Insider Media Limited

Nottingham City Council has hit back at claims by the GMB union that the city has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

Nottingham was named as having the highest unemployment levels in 2010 by the union, which said that jobless figures stood at 14.8 per cent.

However, the city council said its own analysis shows that its tight boundaries and high proportion of students – which GMB counted in its research - have bumped Nottingham up to the top of the table.

The council said its actual unemployment rate is closer to 10 per cent which would place Nottingham at number 42 in the UK.

However, council leaders admitted unemployment in the city needs to be reduced.

Deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, Graham Chapman, said: "We recognise that Nottingham does have high unemployment - but these figures paint a much worse picture than is actually the case.

"We have around 40,000 students among a population of about 300,000 so if you count them in to unemployment figures, it makes a significant difference and leads to an inaccurate and misleading assessment."

GMB said the top ten areas in the UK with the highest level of unemployment are: Nottingham, 14.8 per cent; Middlesbrough, 14.4 per cent; Sandwell, 14.1 per cent; Newham, 13.7 per cent; Redcar and Cleveland, Barking and Dagenham, 13.4 per cent; Birmingham, Kingston-upon-Hull, 13.3 per cent; Wolverhampton 13.1 per cent and Liverpool 12.8 per cent.

The union’s figures show that 7.7 per cent of people across the East Midlands are out of work.