Unemployment in Worcestershire inMay 2012

Here is a summary of the unemployment situation in Worcestershire taken form the County Economic Summary for June 2012.  Broadly, unemployment fell on the claimant count, which reflects the headline fall in unemployment nationally (though the national claimant count went up slightly).

The unadjusted number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance for Worcestershire was 10,516 in May 2012, a decrease of 205 claimants from the previous month.  The Worcestershire unemployment rate is 3.8%, down 0.1% compared to the previous month.  This compares favourably with the unemployment rates for the West Midlands region (6.6%) and England and Wales (5.5%). The male unemployment rate in Worcestershire is 4.7%, unchanged from last month, compared to the female rate of 2.7%, down by 0.1%.

Across the county, the district with the highest unemployment rate is Worcester City (4.8%) and the Districts with the lowest unemployment rate are Bromsgrove and Malvern Hills, (2.8%). In terms of urban centres, Kidderminster had the highest unemployment rate at 5.5%. The lowest unemployment rate was in Wythall (1.8%).

Four of the six districts in the county saw falls in unemployment of between 20 and 40, except for Redditch, down 75 and Malvern Hills, up one, compared with last month.  Compared with a year ago there were falls between 80 and 116 for Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills and Redditch, and 14 for Wychavon, but rises of 14 for Worcester and 192 for Wyre Forest, giving an overall drop of 89.

There were 3,045 people aged 18-24 claiming JSA benefit compared to 3,145 in April and 2,995 in May last year. Of the 3,045, there were 2,665 that had been claiming for up to a year, which is 6.4% of the 18-24 population, down 0.3% compared to April 2012 – the same as the England average.

The ward with the highest youth unemployment rate is Gorse Hill, Worcester at14.7%, up 2.1% compared to last month and 1.0% higher than April last year.  The adjoining ward of Rainbow Hill has the tenth highest rate at 10.9% and between these two figures are three wards in Wyre Forest, three in Redditch and one each in Malvern Hills and Bromsgrove.

The proportion of those aged 18-24 claiming for over 12 months as a proportion of all claimants has now reached 12.5%, the highest figure since 2008 when it was only 2%.  This proportion has been rising steeply for the past 11 months, following a drop between mid-2010 and mid-2011, though it may now be slowing down.  It suggests a worrying issue about long-term unemployed young people as part of a trend towards growing long-term unemployment generally in the County.  The proportion of all claimants receiving benefit for more than six months increased by 0.8% to 41.9% between April and May and for more than 12 months by 0.9% to 21.4% over the same period.  Whilst none of the populations of unemployed people are static, none the less the drop in overall unemployment suggests that those finding jobs are not the long-term unemployed when they are a rising proportion of those unemployed.

The number of notified vacancies in Worcestershire was 3,699 in May 2012. This is 34.7% lower than in April 2012 but there was a similar drop last year suggesting this may be a seasonal change.  Most of the stories from the local press featured in the county economic summary are positive but where firms are expanding the numbers being taken on are quite small.

I will offer a separate commentary on the overall economic situation, including reference to unemployment, in a separate blog based on a seminar addressed by a senior economist from HSBC that I attended recently.