Further information about unemployment and many other economic indicators can be found in the monthly Worcestershire Economic Summary. National information for this month can be accessed from this BBC website and they also produce a useful graphic (though because of the statistical anomalies in the way the County Council produces it’s percentages compared with the ONS the two sets of figures are not directly comparable).
The unadjusted unemployment total for Worcestershire was 11,364 (4.1%) in March 2012, which is a decrease of 455 (0.1%) JSA claimants from the previous month. The county rate still compares favourably with the unemployment rates for the West Midlands region (6.9%) and England and Wales (5.8%). Unemployment also fell in Worcestershire as compared with this time last year (by 170), whereas nationally it has increased by 150,000 on the claimant count and 190,000 on the more widely used headline rate of people available for work.
The district with the highest unemployment rate is Worcester City (5.1%) and the lowest is Malvern Hills, (3.0%). In terms of urban centres, Kidderminster had the highest unemployment rate at 5.7% and Wythall had the lowest at 2.4%. The biggest falls in those claiming benefits were in Redditch (down 122) and Worcester (down 115) compared with last month, although Worcester was still 140 higher than a year ago compared with a fall of 104 in Redditch. Wyre Forest saw a fall of 39 claimants last month but is still 177 higher than this time last year. The opening of the new ASDA store in Worcester with 350 new jobs may have had an impact on the figures, though many of the staff have been employed for some time training in readiness for the store opening.
The male unemployment rate in Worcestershire is 5.0%, compared to the female rate of 2.9%. Both the male and the female unemployment rates fell by 0.2 percentage points compared to February 2012.
Against the headline drop in claimants, there has been a worrying growth in the numbers out of work for six and 12 months or more. For those unemployed for more than six months the figure has increased by 2.2 % to 38.7% between February and March and the figure for more than 12 months has increased by 1.8 % to 18.1% over the same period. Nationally, Liam Byrne, the Opposition spokesman, said that the numbers who are long-term unemployed is up 50% on a year ago. In Worcestershire the six month claimant rate was around 11% and the 12 month rate 27% in March 2011.
Youth unemployment showed a slight improvement compared with last month with 3,450 people aged 18-24 claiming JSA benefit compared to 3,600 in February and 3,350 March last year. Of these in March 2012, there were 3,080 people aged 18-24 that had been claiming for up to one year, which is 7.4% of the 18-24 population and a decrease of 0.5% compared to February 2012. This is still marginally higher than the England average. The ward with the highest proportion of unemployed young people continues to be Oldington and Foley Park in Kidderminster at 17.4%, which is the same rate as last month and in March last year. As I have previously observed, the ten wards listed in the County with the highest youth unemployment changes slightly from month to month but they always remain the same group of areas which figure in other indices of deprivation. More generally, the trend in the County shows that the overall percentage of claimants aged 18-24 claiming for over 12 months started to increase more rapidly, from around 2% of all claimants aged 18-24 in October 2009 to 8.6% in June 2010,from which point it started to fall. However towards the end of 2011 the figures started to rise again and the current figure in March 2012 stands at 10.6%.
The number of vacancies in Worcestershire was 3,802 in March 2012. This is 14.4% lower than in February 2012 but 24.5% higher than in March last year. There is continuing controversy about part-time working and ‘under-employment, where people are doing part-time jobs because they can’t get full-time work even though that is what they want. (Under-employment can also refer to people working at a level below their qualifications but that isn’t included in the claims and counter claims here). Nationally, the ONS says the number of people having to settle for part-time work because they can't find full-time jobs has risen 89,000 to 1.4 million, its highest level since records began in 1992. This was criticised by Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, who said, “a record [number of people] are now stuck in involuntary part-time work." The Government see it as a trend in people, especially women with children, coming back into the work-place.
We continue to be fortunate with our unemployment rate in Worcestershire (never forgetting the difficulties it represents for each person that is unemployed) compared with some other parts of the country including many parts of the West Midlands not far from us. Humber, and the North West. As the BBC graphic I referred to earlier shows, the two constituencies with the highest unemployment rate in the country are in the West Midlands: Birmingham Ladywood (12.4%) and Birmingham Hodge Hill (10.6%) and the fourth highest is also in Birmingham (Sparkbrook at 9.6%). The national headline figure is 2.65 million people out of work, down by 35,000 in the quarter to February, giving a jobless rate of 8.3 per cent. For whatever reason, it seems difficult to obtain figures on this basis for Worcestershire, but it is hoped that the figures in this summary are useful.
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