Business leaders in West Midlands warned today that the number
of people out of work in the region will get much worse.
The forecast from Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(BCI) came as the West Midlands recorded the biggest UK rise in
unemployment of 10.3 per cent in the three months to May.
The number of people who lost their jobs rose to 52,000, pushing
the total of unemployed in the region to 276,000.
The West Midlands has the highest rate of unemployment out of
the nine English regions. The second highest is the North East with
9.2 per cent rise to 115,000, less than half the number out of work
in the West Midlands.
BCI president Bridget Blow said: "These figures emphasise the
extremely difficult economic conditions that employers are
currently facing.
"In the last three months, 800 people were made redundant at LDV
and many other small and medium-sized firms found the only solution
to the tough trading conditions was to cut staff.
"Our research indicated that the manufacturing sector has
particularly struggled with nearly half of all respondents (47 per
cent) reporting their workforce had declined over the last three
months, in line with the national manufacturing trends."
She added: "The figures will increase when this year's graduates
leave university this summer and youth unemployment nationally
continues to rise - now at 726,000, up by 95,000 in the last
quarter."
Simon Topman, chairman of the West Midlands Chambers of
Commerce, said: "Everything possible is being done in the West
Midlands to assist graduates. The West Midlands Graduate Internship
programme, supported by the region's universities, Advantage West
Midlands, Jobcentre Plus and business groups like the Chambers of
Commerce, will help students start their careers, and businesses
will benefit from graduate-level skills despite the recession.
"Our region is the first in the country to set up and offer
subsidised jobs and training places to graduates with local
companies - offering a real opportunity to the 52,000 graduates who
are expected to leave the region's universities in the next few
weeks.
"BCI will be working with partners and our members to ensure
that as many businesses as possible are involved in this programme.
Graduates are a real asset to the business community and it is
vital that we - as a region - do everything we can to ensure that
we do not suffer a brain drain in the coming months."