The West Midlands labour market is showing no signs of faltering despite the recent credit crunch, with unemployment in the region falling.
According to the latest employment figures released today, the total number of jobless in the region fell by 11,000 between August and October to 169,000. However, the region's unemployment rate remains at 6.3 per cent overall – the highest outside of London, where the rate is 6.4 per cent.
Seasonally adjusted West Midlands claimant count unemployment for November was 97,700, down 1,700, 3.5 per cent of the workforce. The unadjusted equivalent was 93,900, down 3,000, 3.4 per cent.
The seasonally adjusted claimant count measures only those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and is always the lower measure because some unemployed people are not entitled to claim benefits, or choose not to do so.
Katie Teasdale, a policy advisor at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, said the figures reflected what companies in the region had been saying.
"We recently questioned firms about their investment plans in the wake of Northern Rock and few have said there has been any impact and many said they were expecting to increase budgets.
"However, whether the full effects have yet to filter through is unclear and we may have a clearer picture after Christmas," she said.
Nationally, the claimant count figure fell for the 14th month running to 813,000, a drop of 11,100 – its lowest level since 1975.
The total number of jobs in the UK also reached a record high of over 31 million, while the number of vacancies grew to more than 680,000 last month, the highest since 2001.
Total unemployment, including those not claiming benefit, fell by 15,000 in the quarter to October to 1.64 million, the lowest for more than a year.
Employment levels increased by 114,000 in the latest three months to 29 million, the highest figure since records began in 1971. The number of people classed as economically inactive, including those on long-term sick leave or who have given up looking for work, fell by 16,000 to just under eight million in the three months to October.
But the figure was still 111,000 higher than a year ago and represented more than 20 per cent of the working age population.
Manufacturing jobs continued to fall, down by 38,000 in the three months to October compared with a year ago to 2.9 million, the lowest since records began in 1978.
Average earnings increased by four per cent in the year to October, down by 0.1 per cent compared with the previous month, according to yesterday’s data from the Office for National Statistics.
Wage growth in private firms fell by 0.1 per cent to 4.2 per cent compared with a rise of 0.2 per cent in the public sector to 3.2 per cent.
There was a big increase in the number of working days lost through industrial disputes at 327,000 in October, the highest monthly total for more than a year. The annual total to October was 983,000, over 200,000 more than the previous 12 months.
The number of people employed in the public sector was 5.7 million in September, down by 15,000 over the quarter and a decrease of 37,000 over the year, while the number of workers in private firms grew by 263,000 over the year to more than 23 million.
Employment Minister Caroline Flint said: "It’s great to see the number claiming unemployment benefit fall for the 14th month in a row to reach its lowest level for over 30 years.
"Work is the best route out of poverty and with over 250 companies working with us, more long-term benefit claimants can fill some of the 680,000 job vacancies."
