Unemployment figure rises across West Midlands

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of UK unemployment rose to 3.7 per cent in the three months to October, up from 3.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

In the West Midlands, the unemployment rate also saw a rise. There were 143,000 out of work – 4.9 per cent of the working population, compared to 139,000 previously.

The number of people employed in the region is at 2.781 million – down 69,000 on the quarter and down 36,000 on the year.

Across the region, the numbers claiming unemployment benefits, including Universal Credit, last month have also been released.

Figures released for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin showed a drop in claimants who are aged over 50, that are unemployed and looking for work. Local authority areas showed a 25 per cent reduction for year-on-year figures up to November 2022.

Ben Marr, partnership manager for Shropshire at the Department for Work and Pensions, said: "Overall the total figures for those who are unemployed and looking for work, continues to look healthy for both Telford and Shropshire.

"The year-on-year claimant count figures in the Telford and Wrekin area showed an 18 per cent reduction and Shropshire saw a 20 per cent reduction in the year to November 2022.

"Local job centres continue to provide new initiatives to support groups that may need more help to find employment. In Mercia DWP have appointed a 50plus Champion to offer even more support to those who are aged over 50 and looking for work. The 50plus Champion will work alongside Job centres across Telford and Shropshire, in collaboration with employers and partners, to ensure that all the talent and experience this demographic can offer is not overlooked in local recruitment.

"DWP Disability Employment Advisers are delivering work sessions in all the Shropshire job centres to help claimants with a health condition or disability to understand the wide range of help available to them. The work sessions have provided information on the Access To Work scheme, the new Health Adjustment Passport and also a ‘better off in work’ calculation for participants."

Month on month, there was an increase in claimants from October across the West Midlands from 175,005 to 176, 975, a rate of 4.8 per cent.

In Shropshire, the claimant total was 4,565 (2.4 per cent) which was a rise from 4,500 last month.

Telford and Wrekin had 4,030 claimants (3.6 per cent) compared to 3,960 last month.

In Powys, the number of claimants was 1,770 (2.4 per cent), up 80 on last month.

Nationally, data showed vacancies dropped by 65,000 in the three months to November to 1.9 million – the fifth quarterly fall in a row and the first annual fall since the beginning of last year.

The figures signalled that more people are choosing to return to work, with the inactivity rate falling to 21.5 per cent as those in their 50s opt to go back to work at a time of rocketing costs.

The ONS said regular wages, excluding bonuses, rose by 6.1 per cent in the three months to October – a record outside of the pandemic – as firms are under increasing pressure to increase earnings.

But wages continued to be outstripped by rising prices, falling by 3.9 per cent after Consumer Prices Index inflation is taken into account.

Sam Beckett, ONS head of economic statistics, said: “This quarter the proportion of people neither working nor looking for a job fell, driven by a drop in the number of working-age people regarding themselves as retired.

“This tallies with other data which suggest more people in their 50s are thinking of going back to work, at a time when the cost of living is rising rapidly.

“With more people re-engaging with the labour market, there were more in employment and also more who were actively looking for a job. Though job vacancies are still at a very high level, they continue to fall and are now lower than they were a year ago.”