THE NUMBER of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance in Gwent rose by 74 percent over the last year.

There were 14,955 people claiming in August, compared to 8,605 in the same month the year before.

Blaenau Gwent had the most claimants with 3,325 and Monmouthshire the least with 1,370.

There were 2,370 claiming in Islwyn, 2,485 in Newport East, 2,745 in Newport West and 2,660 in Torfaen.

Over the past year thousands of jobs have been cut in Gwent - manufacturing being one of the worst hit areas.

Almost 400 people lost their jobs when Novelis closed its aluminium sheet mill in Rogerstone, Newport, in April.

The closure of Gwent's 11 Woolworths stores put 377 out of work at the end of 2008, while 99 jobs were lost at Northern Automotive Services in Gilwern, 97 at ArvinMeritor in Cwmbran, 50 at computer chip-making firm International Rectifer in Newport and 71 at IG Lintels factory in Cwmbran.

The number of people claiming JSA in Gwent had hovered between 7,000 and 8,000 between 2005 and 2007.

In August the number of live unfilled vacancies, for which a jobseeker can apply, was 1,793 across Gwent.

Newport West had the highest number of vacancies with 507 and Blaenau Gwent the lowest with 142.

There were 169 vacancies in Islwyn, 349 in Monmouthshire, 267 in Newport East and 359 in Torfaen.

Plaid Cymru prospective parliamentary candidate for Islwyn Steffan Lewis obtained the figures.