Job prospects in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull area are likely to improve marginally over the next three months, according to a new survey published yesterday (Thursday, October 6).

This is one of the few glimmers of hope revealed in the economic survey for the third quarter of the year conducted by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group (BCCG) in conjunction with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The BCCG survey has now been expanded to include the whole LEP area, which comprises Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Solihull, Tamworth and Wyre Forest.

And the way the region's businesses are maintaining their confidence and fighting back in these difficult economic conditions drew praise from both the Chamber and the LEP. 

Despite the LEP outperforming the UK picture, the area was not immune from the weakening global business environment. Figures for manufacturers who have increased exports in the last quarter are the lowest since September last year. Forty-three per cent said they are increasing sales, compared with 38 per cent.

Advance orders faired worst with only 37 per cent saying they had increased, the lowest figure since March last year, when it was 36 per cent.

Increases in home market sales dropped to 41 per cent compared with 47 per cent in the previous quarter and orders were also falling with 40 per cent reporting a rise against 43 per cent in the previous quarter.

The picture was much the same in the service sector with home and export sales and orders in decline.

However, the jobs front looked more optimistic, particularly in the service sector. Not only did 22 per cent, compared with 16 per cent in the previous quarter, say their workforce had increased but 23 per cent expect to take on more people in the next three months. 

In the manufacturing sector, increasing workforces had declined to 30 per cent compared with 35 per cent in June. But 26 per cent expected to be recruiting in the next quarter compared with 24 in the previous quarter.

Christine Braddock, president of Birmingham Chamber, said: "The slight increase in job prospects, although small, is encouraging but there is still a long way to go and demonstrates the determination of businesses to overcome current trading difficulties.

"All current and future sales margins and prospects are extremely small and there is little doubt that disappointing figures in exports reflect the problems in the EU - our largest export market.

"The service sector's export market has also experienced a significant decline but is doing relatively better than the UK market."

Business confidence remains static and relatively high, given the difficult trading conditions both at home and abroad.

Sixty-one per cent of manufacturers were confident that turnover would improve while 47 per cent expected to improve profitability. Confidence was a little higher in the service sector - 63 per cent expecting to improve turnover and 60 per cent looking at boosting profitability.

Andy Street, chair of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, said: "In the face of continuing difficult economic news, the resilience shown in this survey is relatively encouraging. It reflects the determined efforts of the Midlands business community - from SMEs to our biggest firms - to remain competitive, win market share, and adapt to the changing economic environment."