Unemployment falls but West Midlands job prospects are lowest in the country

Unemployment in the West Midlands has fallen but this has been more than offset by the UK’s largest decline in its employment rate, new figures show.

The region’s jobless total fell by 5,000 to 161,000 – a rate of 5.7% – in the January to March quarter, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

However, its employment rate declined by 0.7% or 42,000 compared with the October to December 2016 period. The current rate is just 71.4%, with the UK average at 74.8%.

Nationally, there were 1.54m people unemployed by the end of March, a rate of 4.6% –- its lowest in 42 years.

Business leaders have welcomed the fall in the region’s jobless total but said the employment prospects for the region must be a wake-up call to politicians ahead of next month’s general election.

Paul Faulkner, chief executive of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) said: “As voters get ready to head to the polls, we are seeing a record number of jobs created across the country.

“However, there is a more mixed picture in our region, with a welcome fall in the unemployment level being offset by an increase in the inactivity rate and a drop in employment figures.

“This could be attributed to a large increase in the number of full-time employees in work and a subsequent drop in the number of part-time employees across the UK.”

He said great strides had been made in boosting employment opportunities over the past few years and this needed to continue.

“The newly-elected West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, has made a commitment to eradicating youth employment in our region over the next three years which will go some way in tackling  longstanding skills gaps in the local labour market,” he added.

“Our latest Quarterly Business Report highlighted the underlying strength and resilience of our regional economy, with turnover predictions the highest we’ve seen in almost three years; hopefully this will translate into a steady increase in hiring levels over the next few months.”

In Coventry and Warwickshire unemployment rose in April, although at a slower rate.

It moved up from 4,580 to 4,590 in Coventry and from 4,130 to 4,295 in Warwickshire.

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said the trend was a concern.

“We hear from businesses that they want to take on new staff, that they are looking to grow – yet we see the claimant count has gone up, albeit only slightly,” she said.

“It’s a concern that our growth companies say they can’t find the skills they need – yet the unemployment figure has crept up again.

“The economy in Coventry and Warwickshire is forecast, through our work with Warwickshire County Council on our Quarterly Economic Survey, to keep growing so it is vitally important that we have the workforce to meet that growth.

“Therefore, I think we’d all like to hear a lot more about skills, training and apprenticeships in this general election campaign.”