UNEMPLOYMENT in the Vale of Glamorgan has halved in the last six years.

Figures released today show a 50 per cent fall in the claimant count since 2010.

The current leve of job seeker's allowance and Universal Credit claims stands at 1,170.

This is a fall of 175 (13 per cent) on last year's figures.

Operations manager at the Department for Work and Pensions, Matthew Thomas said: "These figures paint a positive picture compared to last year and a really positive picture compared to six years ago when we were in the middle of a recession.

"We've had success at our Barry and Penarth job centres with voluntary work experience which has helped people get experience and make them more competitive in the job market."

He added: "The fall in unemployment is good news but we are not complacent and realise there are still people looking for jobs and employers finding it difficult to fill vacancies."

Mr Thomas also had a message for those leaving school this year.

He said: "Our advice for school leavers is to get a quality CV and look at the skills and experience that they have so far.

"We would suggest preparing for job interviews, perhaps with mock interviews, and advise young people to be proactive in finding out about recruitment drives or job fairs."

There will be a jobs fair at St David's Hall in Cardiff on September 7 and another is planned for Barry in October.

Commenting on the Welsh figures, first minister Carwyn Jones said: "Employment in Wales today stands at its highest rate on record, while over the past year the number of people unemployed in Wales has fallen by 30,000 to its lowest level since 2006.

"Wales is outperforming all other parts of the UK with the sharpest declining rate of unemployment over the past 12 months.

"At 4.6 per cent, the unemployment rate in Wales is lower than the UK average for the fourth consecutive month and that fall has been recorded at a rate almost three times faster than the UK as a whole."