Unemployment jumps in the West Midlands

While the picture has been improving nationwide – buoyed by big falls in unemployment in the East of England, Scotland, the South East – the West Midlands saw its figure rise by 17,000 to 176,000 between May and July.

It made the West Midlands the worst performer of any UK region over those three months.

But, at the same time, employment in the region over that period rose by 12,000 to 2.660 million.

Minister for Employment, Damian Hinds, said: "When it comes to our jobs market, we've made great progress since 2010 with employment up in every region.

"It's good news in the West Midlands where there's a near record of 2.66 million people in work, a rise of almost 60,000 in the last year alone.

"It's important that we work to keep up this momentum so more people can make the most of opportunities available out there in the economy."

Nationwide the employment rate remained at a record high of 74.5%, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to July - 174,000 more than the previous quarter.

A total of 1.63 million people are unemployed – a fall of 39,000 over the quarter and 190,000 down compared with a year ago, giving a jobless rate of 4.9%.

But there was gloomier news as the claimant count, including Jobseeker's Allowance, jumped by 2,400 to 771,000 between July and August, the Office for National Statistics said.

And that was reflected across the West Midlands, where it rose by 1,295 to 83,330.

In Wolverhampton the claimant count increased by 185 to 6,830, or 4.3 per cent of the city's working population. That is more than double the national claimant rate of 1.9%.

Walsall rose by 120 to 4,905, or 2.9 per cent, while the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Sandwell rose by 30 to 7,185, or 3.6 per cent.

In a rare bright spot the claimant count in Dudley fell by 20 to 5,685, or 2.9 per cent. In Kidderminster and Wyre Forest it was up 40 at 745, or 1.3 per cent of the district's working population.

In Staffordshire the number claiming benefits was up by 120 to 5,080, still at a very low 0.9 per cent, and the picture was generally better in the south of the county. The number claiming benefits in Lichfield rose 20 to 415, or 0.7 per cent, but the claimant count in Stafford fell 20 to 670, or 0.8 per cent.

Across Cannock Chase the claimant count was also down by 20 to 715, or 1.1 per cent, and in South Staffs it fell by 15 to 700, or 1.0 per cent.

Nationwide, the single month Labour Force Survey for July recorded an unemployment rate of 4.7%, down 0.4% compared with the month before, while the unemployment level dropped by 154,000 to 1.6 million over the period.

Job vacancies were up 3,000 to 752,000 between June and August, which includes two months after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Average earnings increased by 2.3% in the year to July, 0.2% down on the previous month

Nick Palmer, ONS statistician, said: "These figures show continued labour market improvement, with the employment rate remaining at a record high and inactivity at a new record low.

"The headline Labour Force Survey and earnings data are for May to July, so cover one month since the result of the EU referendum became known."