THERE were 273 people in West Somerset claiming benefits last month, latest job statistics show.

Of these, 242 lived in the Minehead travel to work area and 208 were men, which is 71 fewer than at the same time last year.

The claimant figure for the Minehead area in May was 272 and in June 2001 it was 308, or 3.1 per cent of the workforce.

The West Somerset jobless figure in June was exactly two per cent and the percentage of Minehead people out of work was 2.4.

Somerset maintained its position among the lowest unemployment rates in the South West at 1.6 per cent. This was bettered by Dorset and Wiltshire, both 1.5 per cent, but was lower than the four other counties, including Devon at 2.4 per cent.