Midlands unemployment still on the rise as jobless rate soars to highest level for more than four years
Britain’s jobless rate has soared to its highest level for more than four years as official figures show nearly 830,000 workers have been dropped from UK payrolls since the start of the pandemic.
The Office for National Statistics revealed the unemployment rate reached five per cent in the three months to November for the first time since early 2016, after another 202,000 people lost their jobs. The total unemployed was 1.72 million – up 418,000 on a year ago.
Unemployment in the West Midlands rose by 17,000 between September and November.
The regional figure of 178,000 compared to 161,000 of the three months to October with the unemployment rate at six per cent.
Numbers in work in the region dropped by 35,000 to 2.78 million – 59.2 per cent of the working population.
There was better news on the claimant count figures with the West Midlands seeing a fall of 2,290 last month to 263, 635 – a rate of 7.2 per cent.
Shropshire experienced a fall of 75 to 8,505 (4.5 per cent), but Telford and Wrekin bucked the trend with claimant numbers rising 120 to 6,735 (six per cent).
Powys had a 115 drop in claimants to 3,290 (4.4 per cent).
Ben Vaughan, Shropshire employer adviser manager at Jobcentre Plus, said: "Both of our local authorities have seen their Universal Credit claimant counts more than double between November 2019 and November 2020 and this gives us all a stark reminder of the impact the pandemic has had for us locally in Shropshire.
"However, when looking at the most recent comparable data between August 2020 and November 2020, both have seen significant reductions in their Universal Credit claimant counts, with Shropshire’s reducing by 682 claimants and Telford and Wrekin’s by 590 during this period.
"As we begin 2021, many of our employers were not able to enjoy the seasonal trade they would have hoped for after such a challenging 2020, and we have entered the new year in another extended period of uncertainty.
"We will however see significant job growth in Shropshire because of the national Kickstart scheme. We are now in the process of recruiting for our first locally led Kickstart jobs with our colleagues at Telford & Wrekin Council. We have had a phenomenal response from local employers to create jobs through the scheme, with both our local authorities and many of our key partners and providers such as Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, FSB, Shrewsbury Colleges Group, Telford College, A.L.I.N, and Wrekin Housing Group putting a considerable amount of time and resource into creating roles and supporting our local micro and SME employers to do the same.
"We will see hundreds of exciting, new jobs created as we move towards the spring, giving opportunities to unemployed younger jobseekers and giving our local economy a huge boost.”
Nationally, the number of payroll employees nudged up by 0.2 per cent between November and December, with employment also falling at its slowest pace since March, down 88,000 at 32.5 million.
But there was little cheer in the data as the claimant count, which includes people working with low income and hours as well as people who are not working, edged up by 0.3 per cent in December to 2.6 million.
The redundancy rate hit another record high, up 168,000 between September and November to 395,000, though it dropped slightly from a peak in September.
The early recovery in vacancies seen in the summer also slowed, with around 81,000 between October and December at 578,000 – half the level of growth in the previous three months.
Difficult
Minister for employment Mims Davies said: “These figures show many people are still facing difficult times, but our support is helping keep millions of workers on payrolls across the country.
“Whilst there is light at the end of the tunnel with jabs already in the arms of millions and the vaccine rollout gathering pace, our Plan for Jobs is helping to protect and support livelihoods, as well as create new opportunities for those who need them.
“The number of vacancies has risen for six consecutive months, our Kickstart scheme for young people has already created more than 120,000 job placements and we have provided over £280 billion to protect incomes and livelihoods as we battle the pandemic.”
Matthew Percival, CBI director of people and skills, said: “Unemployment rising to five per cent and continued high redundancies show the difficult decisions businesses face.
“The prospect of extending lockdown makes it urgent that the Chancellor acts now to extent job and business support. The Job Retention Scheme needs to run to at least the end of June to avoid a cliff-edge.”
ONS head of economic statistics Sam Beckett said: “The latest monthly tax figures show that there were over 800,000 fewer employees on payroll in December than last February.
“More detailed data, published for the first time, show that parts of London have seen the steepest percentage falls, followed by north-eastern Scotland.
“In the three months to November, on our survey data, the employment rate fell sharply again, while the unemployment rate rose to hit five per cent for the first time in over four years.
“The number of people saying they had been made redundant in the previous three months remains at a record high.
“Meanwhile vacancies, which were rising in summer and early autumn, have been falling in the last couple of months.”
