Unemployment
The claimant count in Worcestershire in February 2013
increased by 326 to 10,685 (3.1%), 1,134 lower than the number of claimants in
February 2012. This is the lowest level since
December 2008, however as expected the number has risen due to the decrease in
seasonal work.
The district with the highest proportion of claimants
aged 16-64 was Redditch (3.9%), whilst the greatest decrease in absolute terms
(between February 2012 and February 2013) was in Worcester with a fall of 322
claimants. The urban centre with the
highest proportion of claimants is Kidderminster with 4.5% and the lowest is Wythall
at 1.9%. In Worcestershire's urban areas
the proportion of claimants is 3.5%, which is 0.4 % higher than the county as a
whole.
Long Term Unemployment
The proportion of claimants who have been receiving JSA
benefit between 6 and 12 months has decreased by 5.1 % to 15.1% since February
2012. The proportion in receipt of JSA
benefit for more than 12 months has increased by 5.3 % over the same period to
21.6% of all claimants. The number of people claiming for 6-12
months has declined due to them either finding employment or falling into the
category of claiming for more than 12 months.
Claimants Leaving the Unemployment
Count
2,600 people left the claimant count in February 2013, of
those people 42.8% have found employment, a further 43.4% are either 'not
known' or have 'failed to sign'; it is possible that some of these people have
also found work.
Youth Unemployment –
Claimants
Aged 18-24
In February 2013 the number of claimants aged 18-24 was
3,030, an increase of 150 claimants compared to January 2013 but 570 fewer than
in February 2012. The proportion of claimants aged 18-24
is 7.3%, 0.2 % higher than the England average. The
district with the highest proportion of claimants aged 18-24 was Wyre Forest
(9.0%). The greatest decrease in absolute
terms (between February 2012 and February 2013) took place in Redditch with a
fall of 195 claimants. After
a significant rise, the Worcestershire 18-24 claimant rate reached a peak in
August 2009. It has since fallen with some seasonal
effects related to Christmas and summer employment; however it is yet to reach
pre-recession levels.
Some
Comments
It has been consistently pointed out that Worcestershire’s
unemployment figures are better proportionately that the West Midlands region (usually
towards the bottom of the table of regions) and England or the UK. The
exception is youth unemployment where we tend to be above the England
proportion. This hides some significant variations
as the figures of the highest and lowest districts and more particularly urban
centres shows. Go to smaller areas and
the differences are even more pronounced (for example, the area where I am
associate minister has over 6% unemployment, whilst where I live two miles away
is under 2%).
In overall terms Worcestershire’s situation may lead us
to think that we’re not doing too badly and indeed there are signs that we are
faring better than many in the recession.
But as Ahmed Goga, Worcestershire County Council’s Head of Economic Development
and Strategic Planning, said at the Faith at Work in Worcestershire AGM this
week, beneath the surface all isn’t quite as rosy as we would like to
think. This is shown in modest average
incomes and gross value added, low levels of innovation in our industry and a
failure to bring back young people who leave to go to university. Whilst people with degree and equivalent
qualifications are quite numerous, there is a high proportion with less than
GSE standard education. And there is a
real problems for high tech firms in recruiting suitably skilled people – the right
kind of engineering is where the demand is.
The thrust of Mr Goga’s argument is that whilst
Worcestershire is a nice place to be, there is a danger of complacency which
could lead to stagnation. This is very
much the tension at the middle of the debates in the genesis of the Next Generation Worcestershire programme: how to ensure economic prosperity whilst preserving
those things that make the County a good place to live.
There is also a tension which was raised in the recent
Worcester Diocesan Synod debate on the economy: how to balance necessary
economic development alongside global environmental issues of pollution and
resource depletion.
In this time when so much of the debate surrounding the economy
and particularly the budget is about growth (almost at any price) it is
important to hold onto a wider and longer perspective. We may argue that love, compassion and justice
among the Kingdom priorities that the Diocese of Worcester has embraced require
a redistribution of the increasingly unequal shares of income and wealth that
our economic system is giving to people.
However, whilst we must do what is possible within the County we also
must be aware that in the system as it is we are (according to Mr Goga) in
competition with the likes of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire,
rather than the other parts of the West Midlands, and nobody may have told them
about our difficulties with growth. We
must also be aware of the argument, also made in Next Generation
Worcestershire, that prosperity is needed for the provision of those services
we deem important to care for our increasingly ageing population.
The challenge, rather like that reported today of Lord Mandelson
to the Labour leadership, is to work at a compelling alternative rather than
repeat the critique.
