The West Midlands was once called the workshop of the world and Birmingham is home to some of the UK’s wealthiest companies, but local businesses account for just over seven per cent of the UK’s total business turnover.
According to latest commercial data from the Office for National Statistics, annual turnover in the region tops £232 billion – which is just a fraction of the country’s total £3.28 trillion.
While the West Midlands provides a small amount of this cash, London contributes 28.9 per cent which is four times the revenue provided by the West Midlands.
When the West Midlands total is broken down, it reveals just under half of the region’s business wealth is created by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Self-employed workers provide 6.4 per cent of the total turnover; firms with less than 50 employees contribute 27.7 per cent; 14 per cent comes from organisations employing between 50 and 249 people, while 51.9 per cent is from groups with more than 250 workers.
The biggest share of the region’s wealth is provided in hospitality by the accommodation and food sectors, which contributes 16 per cent of the total. The financial sector accounts for 12.9 per cent and manufacturing 11.9 per cent.
The structure of West Midlands economy, with large globally ranked producers such as Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, JCB, Toyota, Rolls Royce and Alstom sourcing products from precision-based SME manufacturers and traditional craft industries, ensures it is comparable to the more dynamic regions of the European economy.
In Birmingham alone, there are 75,000 companies including almost 1,190 international firms. Major global players across various sectors are based in the city, including JLR, Kraft, Amey, Deloitte and Mondeléz (Cadbury). Foreign direct investment in the city is high – producing 6,738 jobs from 58 projects in 2011 alone, the second highest number of jobs from this sector of any city outside of London.
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The Birmingham Post Business Daily publishes a data analysis feature. Find out more about the Business Daily formats here
