Latest figures show unemployment down again in the West Midlands
UNEMPLOYMENT in the West Midlands has continued to fall, although the drop has not been as steep as in recent months.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics shows unemployment declined to 157,000 in the September to November quarter; a rate of 5.7%.
The figures represent an 8,000 fall on the picture in the July to August quarter and a 15,000 drop on the same period in 2014.
The 0.3% decline in the latest quarter mirrors that of the UK as a whole, although the national rate is now 5.1%.
Nationally, there are 1.68m people out of work, a fall of 99,000 on the July to August quarter and 239,000 down on the same quarter in 2014.
The latest falls are reflected across the region, although several local authorities collate their figures differently, preferring to use a month-by-month formula.
In Wolverhampton, where unemployment stabilised in December after falling for the previous three months, Cllr John Reynolds, Wolverhampton’s cabinet member for the City Economy, said: “Unemployment figures for Wolverhampton remain encouraging and the city council’s partner strategy to drive jobs is clearly paying dividends.
“The action plan emanating from the Skills and Employment Commission report will also help people in the city take advantage of the numerous opportunities being created.
“Major companies like Jaguar Land Rover and Wiggle are growing and jobs are also being created by SMEs.”
December was a tough month for the city as it saw the first of the redundancies from the Goodyear tyre factory.
In Coventry, the unemployment figure dropped from 4,007 to 3,909 in December while in Warwickshire, the number came down from 2,472 to 2,389.
Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “Another drop in unemployment across both the city and county is good news and it bears out what we are hearing from members.
“Our conclusions from our latest Quarterly Economic Survey suggest that businesses will be continuing to recruit more staff in the region.”
