Region’s employment picture bleak compared to national performance
Employment in the West Midlands has fallen significantly – and at odds with the national picture, according to latest figures.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the region’s employment rate was 71.7% for the period December 2016 to February 2017, a fall of 0.7% on the September to November quarter.
This is despite the unemployment figures falling over the same period, even if only by 2,000 – barely enough to register on the ONS data.
By the end of February there were 157,000 people unemployed in the West Midlands, a rate of 5.7% – well above the national rate of 4.7%. The region’s inactivity rate saw a 0.8% increase to 23.9%.
Indeed, the national unemployment rate is now at its lowest since August 1975. At the end of February there were 1.56m out of work nationally, a fall of 45,000 on the September to November period.
The national employment rate stands at 74.6% – the joint highest since records began in 1971.
Business leaders in Greater Birmingham have called on the Government to address structural deficiencies in the regional economy to reverse the decline.
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce chief executive Paul Faulkner said: “The region has made good progress in reducing its unemployment rate in recent years and it’s vital that this progress does not stall.
“Now more than ever, we are calling on the Government and stakeholders to effectively tackle long standing structural deficiencies within our regional economy by investing in infrastructure, addressing skills shortages and boosting the productivity of our staff.
“Only then will we start to see long term prosperity delivered to the West Midlands and an overall rebalancing of the national economy.”
He added that in spite of the mixed results on employment, the chamber’s latest Quarterly Business Report revealed that local business confidence was at its highest level in almost three years.
“This is a welcome riposte to the uncertainty surrounding the invocation of Article 50 and the impact this could have on access to talent from Europe,” he added.
