WHISPER it quietly, but are we coming out of the worst of the recession?

The latest jobless figures for Oxfordshire, published yesterday, show that just four extra individuals lost their jobs and were claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance last month, compared to the month before.

Of course, these figures are never a 100 per cent accurate picture of what is happening across Oxfordshire, but they are a shaft of light in what has been a turbulent period for the county’s economy.