Wages and educational standards 'on the rise' across the Black Country

The Black Country Consortium found that the number of people with no qualifications in the region is now under 100,000 – the lowest figure ever for the area.

Real progress towards achievement of the aspirations set within the Black Country Vision and the Black Country Strategy for Growth and Competitiveness is revealed in The Black Country State of the Sub Region 2021 – Economy of Together.

Produced by the Black Country Economic Intelligence Unit, for the first time it is available as an online interactive report which enables people to access the latest real time data and intelligence at the touch of a button.

Professor Delma Dwight, director of the Black Country Economic Intelligence Unit, said: “We are incredibly pleased to be able to share this year’s progress through this new, online and interactive report.

“I’m proud to say that the Black Country Economic Intelligence Unit is the only research unit that brings together data on delivery and the full pipeline of current and planned investment across the Black Country.

“This enables us to uniquely assess the real time impact of delivery on the outcomes set for the area and in doing so enables us to support all our partners in ensuring the continued growth of the local economy.”

The 2021 report highlights how the Black Country was performing before the coronavirus outbreak along with the impacts and issues caused to the area from the pandemic.

It found that despite the ongoing challenges brought about through the pandemic, the Black Country has seen positive progress.

The Black Country had the joint second highest increase in resident earnings across all local enterprise partnerships in the UK from 2019 to 2020 with Black Country residents working full time earning £27,839 on average as of April last year. The 5.7 per cent increase compared to an increase of 3.5 per cent nationally.

NVQ Level 4+ qualifications increased by 16.8 per cent compared to a national increase of 7.2 per cent. It marks the first time since records began that the Black Country has more than 200,000 people with NVQ4+ qualifications.

In turn, it means that for 2020, 28.8 per cent of the working age population in the Black Country was educated to NVQ4+ levels – the highest proportion since records began.

Tom Westley, chairman of the Black Country LEP board, said: “Progress across each theme has been hugely positive, especially in such uncertain times, and we are delighted to reflect and share how the Black Country economy continues to grow and how we remain a place where businesses want to invest and people want to live and work.

“This year’s online and interactive report is particularly useful in understanding, in real time, achievements and projects across the Black Country and I encourage people to take a look for themselves and see how the data can support their business as we work together to support a sustainable, healthy and inclusive economy.”

The full report is available to download at arcg.is/10Ga8D.