Unemployment in Cumbria fell last month, official figures show.

There were 4,935 job hunters claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or the new Universal Credit, 230 fewer than in April, making up 1.6 per cent of the county's workforce.

Seasonal recruitment in tourism and construction may have been responsible for the fall, but the figures appear to show that the long-term downward in Cumbrian unemployment has faltered.

There were only 15 fewer claimants than in May last year.

But Shane Byrne, Department for Work and Pensions spokesman for Cumbria, believes that unemployment will continue to drop.

He said: "We should see further declines through the summer.

“In Carlisle we are only taking on 20 to 25 new claimants each week when in the past we've seen 60, 70 or 80 or more. We have a strong economy."

Many of the jobs being created in Carlisle are in retail.

Mr Byrne said: “We have had Marks & Spencer looking for 45 staff for its Simply Food outlet at Kingstown and we have Primark coming, which will create churn in the jobs market as people leave other jobs to work there.”

He said there was almost full employment in Eden, where the per centage of the workforce claiming unemployment-related benefits is only 0.7 per cent.

He added: “It's always a bit trickier in west Cumbria, but we've had HM Revenue & Customs advertising for clerical workers at Lillyhall.”

The month-on-month fall in the claimant count applied across Cumbria.

Allerdale's total fell by 35 to 1,095, Barrow's by 50 to 1,150, Carlisle's by 60 to 985, Copeland by 45 to 910, Eden's by 15 to 215, and South Lakeland's by 25 to 345.

Nationally, the seasonally-adjusted claimant count was almost unchanged at 746,100 while the quarterly rolling total, which includes job hunters not eligible for benefits, fell by 20,000 to 1.67m – the lowest since spring 2008.

The number of people in work hit 31.5m – the highest since records began in 1971. And average earnings increased by 2.0 per cent in the year to April, well below the rate of inflation, which stands at 0.3 per cent.