We monitor the latest employment and unemployment data for the West Midlands, which is published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. We analyse the data and show the latest position of the West Midlands relative to the other regions in England.

The data covers the period up to February 2010 for the claimant count, and the quarter up to January 2010 for employment and ILO unemployment.

Jobseeker's Allowance claimant rates

We've produced interactive maps showing the proportion of the region's working age population claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in each local authority and ward.

We update the maps each month and currently show data up to February 2010.

• Local Authority map (requires Adobe Flash Player)
• Ward map (requires Adobe Flash Player)
• Download the dataset (xls, 220kb)

We've also produced an interactive map showing the proportion of the working age population claiming Jobseeeker's Allowance in the Rural Regeneration Zone.

Employment

The employment rate in the West Midlands for the three months to January 2010 has remained relatively stable, at 70.3%. This is a very slight increase on the previous quarter (August-​October 2009).

The employment rate is still below the English average of 72.5%, but the West Midlands has a higher employment rate than the regions of London and the North East.

The gap between the employment rate in the West Midlands and England grew over the course of the recession, but the gap has perhaps begun to narrow. In the December-​February 2008 quarter, the difference was only 1.6 percentage points. This widened to a 3.5 point gap in January-​March 2009, but now stands at 2.2 percentage points:

Source: Office for National Statistics (Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted data)

ILO unemployment

The official International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure of unemployment in the West Midlands is now 9.5% (November-​January 2010), slightly higher than the 9.4% figure reported in February 2010. 

The unemployment rate has fallen by over 1.0 percentage points since its peak in the April-​June 2009 quarter, equating to almost 29,800 fewer people unemployed.

However, the total number currently unemployed stands at over 254,000, almost 32,000 more than a year ago.

The West Midlands has seen one of the largest rises in unemployment over the course of the recession. It was more heavily affected at the beginning of the recession than other regions, seeing a 2.5 percentage point rise in unemployment between November-​January 2008 and November-​January 2009 (exceeded only by the North East's 2.7 point rise).

Between November-​January 2009 and November-​January 2010, though, unemployment rose by only 1.1 percentage points -​ equivalent to the percentage point increase across England as a whole.
Source: Office for National Statistics (Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted data)

The disproportionate impact of the recession on unemployment in the West Midlands is shown in the chart below. The gap between the unemployment rate in England and the West Midlands has risen considerably since the beginning of 2008; it began to narrow since mid-​2009, but has widened again within the last month:

 Source: Office for National Statistics (Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted data)

Claimant count

There are now 176,100 people in the West Midlands claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (the unemployment benefit). This is 16,000 more than in February 2010. However, it's also 9,200 fewer than the peak of 185,300 in September 2009.

Source: Office for National Statistics (claimant count, seasonally adjusted data)

Nevertheless, the West Midlands still has the second highest claimant count rate of all the English regions:

Source: Office for National Statistics (claimant count, seasonally adjusted data)

At a sub-​regional level, there's wide variation in the numbers of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.

Data for February 2010 show that the percentage of working age people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance ranges from 2.3% in Stratford-​on-​Avon to 8.3% in Wolverhampton. Some districts, such as Redditch and parts of Staffordshire, now have lower levels of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants than they had a year ago.

To see how the recession has affected each Local Authority District area, see our interactive map which shows trends in claimant rates in each Local Authority in the region.

Young people

Young people have been the worst affected age group in this recession, seeing the biggest increases in their unemployment rates.

There are almost 56,900 young people (aged 18–24) in the West Midlands claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, equating to more than one in ten young people (claimant rate 11.0%).

This is the highest youth claimant rate among the English regions:

Source: Office for National Statistics (claimant count)

These figures represent higher claimant rates than last month.

Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall all have youth claimant rates over 15%, meaning that nearly one in six young people are unemployed and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.

Dataset: youth claimant rates by regions and Local Authority (February 2010) (xls, 33kb)

Definitions

There are three headline measures:

• Employment
• ILO unemployment (this is the offical measure of unemployment based on the International Labour Organisation definition of those looking for and available for work)
• Claimant count (numbers of people claiming unemployment benefit)

Jobseeker's Allowance claimant data (February 2010) (xls, 220kb)

Youth claimant rates by Local Authority and region (February 2010) (xls, 33kb)