Jobseeker's Allowance: Cumbria

Mr. Jamie Reed
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of a jobseeker's allowance claim by a person registered as unemployed in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency was in each of the last five years.

Mr. McNulty
The information requested is shown in the following table.

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|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |Copeland|Cumbria|
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|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |Number  |Median |Number|Median|
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|March 2004 - February 2005 (inclusive)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |3,525   |10.1   |18,500|8.8|
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|March 2005 - February 2006 (inclusive)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |2,990   |10.7   |16,795|9.0|
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|March 2006 - February 2007 (inclusive)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |3,010   |12.2   |17,205|10.1|
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|March 2007 - February 2008 (inclusive)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |3,180   |10.5   |17,470|9.3|
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|March 2008 - February 2009 (inclusive)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |3,155   |9.6    |17,545|7.9|
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|Notes:1. Data are published at www.nomisweb.co.uk2. Completed claims are rounded to the nearest five3. Median is measured in number of weeks4. Median is a better measure of “average” than arithmetic mean for skewed distributions such as duration of claim.Source:DWP WPLS 100 percent data|        |       |
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