The Annual Business Inquiry provides data on the number of businesses by sector since 1998. This data can be analysed to calculate the average annual growth/decline rate of each sector, in terms of the number of businesses within it.
Since 1998, the banking, finance and insurance sector has grown the most in the West Midlands, with an average annual growth rate of 5.2% since 2007.
Construction had the second highest annual growth rate at 2.5%.
In contrast, the manufacturing sector has declined the most. The number of businesses dropped by 2.3% each year between 1998 and 2007.
The distribution, hotels and restaurants sector also decreased by 0.1% annually over this period. More data is linked below.