Unemployment falls in Shropshire while job vacancies remain at record levels

There were 134,000 people out of work – down 4,000 on the previous three months and at a rate of 4.5 per cent. This compares to the national rate of 3.8 per cent which edged up slightly from 3.7 per cent a month before.

In the West Midlands there were 2,86 million in employment – a rate of 60.8 per cent.

The numbers claiming unemployment benefit in the West Midlands, including Universal Credit, fell again in May. The total of 183,675 was down 4,619 from April at five per cent of the working population.

In Shropshire there was a fall of 199 to 4,690 with Telford and Wrekin down by 108 to 4,210. Powys also experienced a fall of 60 to 1,830.

Ben Marr, partnership manager (Shropshire) for the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “Unemployment in the region continues to fall and job vacancies remain at record levels across both Telford and Shropshire.

“The number of people who are unemployed and looking for work has reduced by 32 per cent in Telford and Wrekin on the year and in Shropshire by 40 per cent on the year. This compares favourably with the wider West Midlands area which had a 30 per cent reduction on the same period.

“People aged 18 to 24 who are unemployed and looking for work also saw significant reductions, with 18 to 24 numbers reducing by 36 per cent in Telford and Wrekin and a massive 54 per cent reduction in Shropshire since February 2021.

“For those that need more help to find work and take up one of the record vacancies, there is an increasing amount of support available locally. For young people looking for work, we have our youth hubs across Telford and Shropshire, with dedicated youth coaches based at the hubs, offering specialist help alongside partner agencies.

“There are programmes to support young jobseekers with everything from CVs and interview skills to confidence and wellbeing. For budding entrepreneurs, we can also offer dedicated partner support for self-employment and business start-up.

“For those wanting to learn new skills and start a new career, we are continuing to run training opportunities throughout June and beyond. We are also matching employers direct to jobseekers with local jobs fairs at our Jobcentres. We have them planned in for June across various sectors including hospitality, care, manufacturing and admin/sales throughout the region.”

Sonia Roberts, CEO of Shropshire-based supported employment and training charity, Landau, said: “It is good news to see unemployment rates falling across the county and we continue to work with some of the most vulnerable members of our society to ensure they are equipped with the skills and training necessary to secure sustainable employment when opportunities arise.

“The opening of our new, bigger skills and enterprise centre in the heart of Wellington means we can now provide more targeted support to a greater number of individuals on a regular basis, and we are working closely with partner organisations and businesses to ensure people are matched to the right jobs wherever possible.”

“We are also continuing to work very closely with businesses operating in the construction, retail, hospitality and care sectors through the Building Shropshire Project to ensure they can build back stronger from the pandemic by filling any job vacancies with new recruits which are appropriately trained and skilled.

“Recruitment is proving an ongoing challenge for many organisations but our work with them through this project is already achieving positive results.”

Clair Schafer, from Shropshire-based SBC Training, said:“Youth unemployment figures mirror the overall trend with fewer unemployed in Shropshire than pre-pandemic. However, this is not all good news.

“Many are being attracted to the abundance of low skill, low pay jobs with few prospects, and ignoring apprenticeships offering high quality training and good career prospects.

“This is hugely worrying for the economy going forward and for the long-term futures of these young people.

“Programmes such as Kickstart have been helpful but many have converted into low skill, low pay jobs.

“Local employers are endeavouring to address skill shortages by providing apprenticeship opportunities with 50 per cent more on offer locally than a year ago, but frustratingly they remain unfilled.

“Advanced level vacancies in occupations such as engineering, digital, accountancy which would have attracted at least eight applicants per vacancy remain unfilled. Good careers guidance is urgently needed to avoid a developing disaster for this generation and to safeguard the area’s economic wellbeing.”

Official figures showed Britons have seen rises in their pay packets fall behind soaring inflation at a record paceas the cost-of-living crisis tightens its grip on UK households.

The Office for National Statistics revealed that regular wages excluding bonuses plunged by 4.5 per cent in April when taking Consumer Prices Index inflation into account – the biggest fall since records began in January 2001.

It comes as inflation has jumped to a 40-year high of nine per cent due to soaring energy and fuel bills amid the impact of the Ukraine war, and as economies emerge from the pandemic.

The ONS data showed that, in the three months to April, regular pay excluding bonuses fell three per cent after the impact of inflation – the biggest fall since November 2011 – despite a 4.2 per cent rise in average earnings.

The figures showed the number of UK workers on payrolls rose by another 90,000 or 0.3 per cent between April and May to 29.6 million.

Job vacancies also rose to a new record of 1.3 million despite a further slowdown in the rate of growth.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak insisted the statistics show Britain’s jobs market “remains robust with redundancies at an all-time low”.