REDUNDANCIES at mills in Peebles and Hawick are being blamed for a slight year-on-year rise in the number of people looking for work in the Scottish Borders.

March Street Mills in Peebles closed at the end of last year with the loss of 87 jobs at Robert Noble and Replin Fabrics.

In Hawick Peter Scott's laid off 20 staff at the end of last year.

Hawick Knitwear paid off around 150 staff at the start of this year with cashmere specialists Hawico also laying off 15 workers.

This week the Labour Market Statistics for the Borders were released, showing 10 more people are now claiming Jobseeker's Allowance from the same period last year.

Lindsay Geddes of Jobcentre Plus told the Peeblesshire News: "It is not a surprise there is a rise considering the the various mill redundancies we have seen over the past 12 months.

"The good news is that there is still a healthy labour market and there is a lot of activity which is bringing the figure down"

As of the end of May there were 1115 people in the Borders actively looking for work - 30 less than at the end of April.

Of them, 260 were between the ages of 18 and 24 - a reduction of seven per cent on the 2015 figure.

Mr Geddes added: "The number of 18-to-24s who are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for this year is down by 20, which is encouraging.

"We have seen a difficult year in the Borders with job losses at the mills but we are recovering well."

The latest regional figures show that of the 11 council wards, Tweeddale East had both the lowest unemployment total (45) and the lowest rate (0.7 per cent) last month.

In Tweeddale West, the total was 75 (1.3 per cent).

The highest jobless rate in May was in Galashiels and District at 2.6 per cent (245 claimants).

Local MP David Mundell was quick to highlight the national trend in employment rates which has seen the jobless figure for Scotland drop by 11,000 between February and the end of April - despite the major problems encountered by the oil and gas sectors.

Mr Mundell said: “It is welcome news that unemployment has fallen by 11,000 over the three months to April, but these figures also show that the downturn in the oil and gas sector is having a significant, on-going, impact."