West Midlands has highest rate of furloughed workers in country
The West Midlands has the highest rate of furloughed workers in the country after the number of people claiming government support rose to nearly half a million.
New figures to the end of June show that in the seven boroughs of the combined authority area (WMCA), almost one third of all employees (394,000) were on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), up 64,000 from the previous month.
And the HM Revenue & Customs figures show that three quarters of all self-employed workers (89,600) were paid through the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) – a rise of 7,000 from the end of May. In total they received £237.2million in payments.
Overall, the number of employees across the region having their wages supported by the Government rose by 17 per cent over the month to 483,600.
It means the WMCA area now has the highest proportion of workers in the country on the CJRS, at 32 per cent of all employees.
It came as business leaders gave a dire warning over unemployment – after a new report claimed one in three Black Country firms were likely to lay off staff in the coming weeks due to the impact of the coronavirus.
According to the figures,167,300 people have been furloughed through the CJRS in the Black Country, including 47,700 in Sandwell, 45,900 in Dudley, 39,300 in Walsall and 34,400 in Wolverhampton.
Across the four boroughs a further 38,100 workers have had their wages supported through the SEISS.
In Staffordshire (excluding Stoke-on-Trent) 168,300 workers received support up to the end of June, with 39,500 receiving self-employed support of £89.1m, and 128,800 on furlough.
Ravage
In Shropshire 40,500 workers were on CJRS while 14,000 received self-employed support. A total of 24,200 workers were furloughed in Telford and Wrekin, with 5,400 on the SEISS.
Around three quarters of all self-employed workers have applied for support since the start of the scheme.
The two schemes were announced earlier this year by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help pay the wages of workers on leave due to Covid-19 lockdown measures.
The furlough scheme – which grants 80 per cent of employees' pay up to a maximum of £2,500 per month – was initially supposed to last for three months, but was extended until October.
The support is now being scaled back, with the amount of furloughed wages paid by the Government reduced each month from August.
Corin Crane, chief executive of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, said: "Coronavirus continues to ravage the employment and jobs market across the Black Country and that the Government’s efforts to protect, support and create jobs is going to be needed now more than ever in the coming months."
Nationally 9.4 million employments had been placed on furlough, an increase of 678,000 compared with claims made until the end of May.
