Employment failure creating West Midlands blackspot

The Resolution Foundation has claimed that decades of employment failure is turning the West Midlands city region into Britain’s biggest employment blackspot.

The independent think tank, which states that the employment problems were a key driver in the regions Brexit vote, urges the region’s first elected mayor to make tackling unemployment their top priority.

The West Midlands region has an employment rate of 64.5 per cent, compared to the average rate of 71 per cent among other city-regions, remaining the only city-region whose employment rate has failed to recover following the 2011 financial crisis.

Additionally, only 51 per cent of all young people aged 16-29 are in work.

The region is set to elect its first ever Metro Mayor in May, and the Resolution Foundation is also urging the government to recalibrate its flagship ‘Midlands Engine’ project to better focus on making the West Midlands city region jobs-fit.

The report urges the new Mayor to: look to expand into more ‘jobs-rich’ areas such as the high value services sector, such as insurance and financial services; improve its graduate retention rates by attracting knowledge jobs to the region; and provide investment in back-to-work programmes to support young and low-qualified people into employment.

Conor D’Arcy, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The West Midlands’ terrible record on job creation has created a huge employment blackspot and was a key factor behind its overwhelming vote to leave the EU.

“Turning the city region’s economic prospects around will be a huge task facing the new Mayor, and they should have the full backing of central government too. Whitehall should recalibrate its flagship Midlands engine project to supporting the new Mayor in overseeing a long overdue jobs boom across the West Midlands.

“For years the West Midlands has been ignored as previous governments have focused on making London the financial capital of the world and Manchester a Northern Powerhouse. It’s high time Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country are brought out of the shadows and made the focus of a national renaissance for Britain’s major cities.”