What is the unemployment level in your ward?

The bar chart above (click on it to enlarge it) shows the level of unemployment in Hackney wards. Or rather it shows the percentage of the working population in each ward that is claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). This excludes people who aren't looking for work like students and people who are sick. 

The picture is only a snapshot taken in April 2012 and doesn't show whether the situation is getting better or worse in each ward. 

In the last couple of months the situation in Hackney has improved - the number of claimants has fallen to its lowest level for more than a year.

However some wards in the borough have bucked this trend and not seen the number of job seekers fall over the same period. 

The confusing spaghetti of lines below shows that there is also quite a wide - and possibly growing - discrepancy between wards with some having JSA rates as low as 4% and others as high as 9%.

Against London and the UK as a whole Hackney seems to follow the trends but in a more extreme fashion. Despite the recent drop, the trend still looks upward.

All of the figures used here are from Nomis. Hopefully I can find someone to put them into context before the next batch of figures.