One in 10 Midland workers on dole

The West Midlands remains the UK's jobless blackspot, with 285,000 people out of work. This means there are more than one in 10 people out of work in the region, or 10.6 per cent, compared to the national figure of 7.8 per cent.

Today's figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that another 9,000 people have joined the ranks of the unemployed across the West Midlands, which has been battered by the recession.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in the UK increased by 24,900 in July to 1.58 million – its worst level for more than 12 years.

Those numbers were mirrored across the region but with a few exceptions, noticeably in Wolverhampton, Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest and Cannock Chase.

In Dudley the claimant count was up 68 to 10,682, or 5.8 per cent of the working population, while in Sandwell it increased by 62 to 12,952, or 7.4 per cent.

In Walsall the figure was up 112 to 10,884, or 7.2 per cent, but in Wolverhampton there was a slight fall of 51 to 11,385, or 7.9 per cent of the working population.

There was also a drop in Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest of 77, down to 2,628, or 4.4 per cent, compared to a slight increase in South Staffordshire of 19, up to 2,187, or 3.4 per cent.

Stafford saw an increase of 37, up to 2,200, or 2.9 per cent, and there was also a rise in Lichfield of 57, to 2,026, or 3.5 per cent.

But Cannock Chase was one of the few fallers, with the claimant count down 48 to 3,085, or 5.1 per cent of the working population.