PARTS of rural Dorset are defying national trends after experiencing a fall in unemployment in recent months.

But urban areas of the county – Weymouth and Portland – showed they are still feeling the pinch, with joblessness still on the rise.

News of Dorset’s rural to urban split follows yesterday’s announcement by the government that national unemployment has hit a 14-year high of 2.44million since June.

As of July, 1,162 people were out of work in Weymouth and Portland, equalling three per cent of the local population, and marking a 0.1 per cent rise from 1,115 jobless in the area in June.

By contrast, 783 people (1.5 per cent of the area’s population) are now unemployed in West Dorset compared to 807 in July – a drop in unemployment of 24.

Purbeck showed the biggest employment increase in the county this month with 483 people (1.8 per cent of the local population) now out of work compared to 514 in June – an extra 31 people now in employment.

Dorset County Council’s senior statistical researcher Anne Gray said: “There’s very much a rural/urban split this month in the figures. The unemployment figures for the county show that it has risen in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole as well as Weymouth and Portland.

“Rural parts of Dorset however like Purbeck and West Knighton show small falls, with the largest drop in unemployment being in Purbeck.”

News of the short term increase in rural employment was cold comfort to job seekers at Weymouth’s Jobcentre Plus.

Former heating engineer Ross Barrett, 33, recently complained about the lack of local employment opportunities to South Dorset MP Jim Knight at a constituency surgery.

Mr Barrett, of Sutcliffe Ave-nue, Weymouth has been unemployed for eight weeks after he was laid off from his last role.

He added: “I was advised by Jim Knight to come to the job centre to ask about discretionary funding to get me on an electrician’s course, because of my experience.

“But when I asked in the centre they just said they don’t do it and they won’t fund it.”

Job seeker Jason O’Malley, 34, of Southwell, Portland is looking for employment before starting a degree in Theology in September. He said: “It seems that jobs – even the more remedial ones in the area – are few and far between at the moment.”

Mr Knight was unavailable for comment.