Unemployment down in the West Midlands but rate of improvement slows

UNEMPLOYMENT has fallen again in the West Midlands although the rate of decline has slowed, according to latest figures.

For the three months to January 2016 there were 150,000 people classed as unemployed in the West Midlands, a rate of 5.4%, which is 0.3% above the national average.

The figure represents a small decrease on the August to October quarter of 3,000 people, the equivalent of 0.1%.

The latest total is also 32,000 down – the equivalent of 1.1% – down on the performance for the three months to January 2015. It is also better than the national average of 0.6% and suggests that the economy in the region is still finding work for people, despite forecasts of declining growth.

The performance of the region was highlighted by the Chancellor during his Budget speech yesterday when he praised the fall in the youth unemployment, which he said was the best in the UK.

Nationally, there were 1.68m unemployed people for the three month period, 28,000 fewer than for August to October 2015 and 171,000 fewer than for a year earlier. The national unemployment rate is now 5.1%.