Jobless total falls but business leaders remain cautious

UNEMPLOYMENT in the West Midlands fell by 4,000 (0.2%) during the three months between December 2010 and February 2011, latest figures have shown.

Business leaders have welcomed the fall but are remaining cautious about the long term situation.

There are now 260,000 people unemployed in the region, equal to 9.7% of the working age population. The rate is the second highest in the UK behind the North East (10.4%).

However, the figures released by the Office for National Statistics show the rate is 0.4% higher than the equivalent period December 2009 to February 2010 when the number of unemployed was 249,000.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said the regional figures reflected the findings of its recent Quarterly Economic Survey (QES), which showed both manufacturers and service sector businesses were expanding their workforce.

The QES concluded 27% of service firms and 24% of manufacturers were looking to increase their workforce in the next three months.

Across the UK, the figure fell 17,000 (0.1%) to 2.48m (7.8%) when compared with the previous three month period.

Despite the regional fall, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said the level of youth unemployment – which has risen for the past 16 months – remained a big concern. Birmingham now has a youth unemployment rate of 20.8%, which is close to the national figure.

Christine Braddock, chamber president, said: “We are pleased that unemployment has fallen this quarter, albeit by a small number, after months of rising.  

“However, we believe that far more needs to be done to improve the skills base of both the city and the region, which currently has the lowest level of skills in the UK after the North West.  

“Between January and February more than 6,000 job vacancies were advertised in Birmingham job centres and yet unemployment continued to rise.”  

She said the focus had to be on improving levels of literacy and numeracy.

Mike Ashton, of the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce, said the Government had to do more to enable businesses to create jobs.

 “In order to help tackle this (youth unemployment), we believe the Government must free business from the burden of regulation and red tape, which hinder job creation by diverting resources and funds away from growth.  

“While we welcomed the Budget announcement that small and micro businesses would be exempt from new regulation for three years, the chamber feels such measures should go much further,” he said.