UNEMPLOYMENT in the Cotswolds has halved since the recession, helped in part by a boom in the hospitality industry.

The numbers of people claiming job seekers allowance has dropped to 310 in the Cotswold District, a 56 per cent drop from the height of the recession in 2010, JobCentre Plus said.

The district has far fewer unemployed people than other, more populous parts of Gloucestershire, with 510 unemployed in Stroud, 1,210 unemployed in Gloucester and 705 unemployed in Cheltenham.

The news comes as the Department for Work and Pensions announced Britain had reached its highest ever employment rate of 74 per cent, with a record 31.4million people in work - around 75 per cent of these jobs are considered full-time.

Mike Nicholls, spokesman for Gloucestershire Jobcentre Plus, said the figures had been bolstered by a strongly performing hospitality centre.

“The Cotswolds is doing well. What we have seen in the last few months is that hospitality is on the rise,” he said.

“We’ve got places coming into the area like Premier Inn and Beefeater on the Kings Meadow roundabout in Cirencester and the new Côte restaurant which are big employers.

He added that the Cotswolds, and particularly Cirencester, attracted a lot of outside visitors.

“Cirencester is in a good location to visit the Cotswolds, but it’s also on a through road from Cheltenham and Gloucester to Swindon,” said Mr Nicholls.

“Its location also means it has a good catchment area for jobs because people can easily travel out. You see quite a few cold-looking people at Kemble station in the morning.”

Cotswold District has relatively low numbers of ‘long-term unemployed’ – those unable to find work for more than a year – with government initiatives helping 97 to 98 per cent find work within a year.

The South West as a whole saw 83,000 find employment over the past year.

Priti Patel, employment minister at Department for Work and Pensions, said: “This is a record-breaking set of figures – and has got 2016 off to a fantastic start.

“There are now more people in work than ever before and wages are growing consistently – a credit to hardworking Brits and businesses alike. And in a further demonstration of the strength of the UK labour market today’s figures show a record three quarters of a million vacancies available.

"The South West has close to a record number of people in work.”