West Midlands jobless figures keep falling

Nationwide, just over 30 million people are now in jobs, up by 459,000 on a year ago, the highest figure since records began in 1971, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The jobless total fell by 63,000 in the quarter to January to 2.33 million, a rate of 7.2 per cent. Most of the fall was among men.

In the West Midlands region unemployment fell by 19,000 between November and January, to 221,000, or 8.2 per cent.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in February fell by 34,600 to 1.17 million, the 16th consecutive monthly reduction, while vacancies jumped by 23,000 to 588,000, the most since 2008.

The most significant drop was in Kidderminster and Wyre Forest, where fall of 123 took the claimant count to 1,682, or 2.8 per cent of the district's working population - just below the national average of three per cent.

There were falls too in Dudley, down 45 to 8,226 or 4.2 per cent, and in Walsall, where the claimant count fell 47 to 8,207 or 4.9 per cent. In Sandwell there was a more modest drop of 17, to 11,058 or 5.6 per cent.

Wolverhampton saw its claimant count come down by 29 to 10,528, which means 6.6 per cent of the city's working population are still claiming jobseeker's allowance - more than twice the national average.

There was more cheer in Birmingham, where the claimant figure dropped by a hefty 307 to 41,639 last month, or six per cent.

But in Staffordshire the picture was more mixed. County-wide, the claimant count was up by a hefty 288, to 10,345, although that still only accounted for 1.9 per cent of the county's working population. The national average rate is three per cent.

In Lichfield it rose by 67 to 926, or 1.5 per cent, while in Stafford the claimant count was up 21 to 1,295, or 1.6 per cent.

In Cannock Chase, however, the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance fell by seven to 1,541, or 2.4 per cent. In South Staffordshire it was down by four to 1,312, or two per cent.