Unemployment soars across Coventry and Warwickshire

Unemployment has soared across Coventry and Warwickshire with more than 1,000 additional people joining the dole queue last month.



The latest figures show 19,585 people were claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance in January – a rise of 1,219 since December.

Local leaders are calling for urgent action as unemployment hits its highest levels in the region for four months.

According to the Office for National Statistics the number of JSA claimants in Coventry was 10,512 in January – rising from 10,073 in December. In Warwickshire the rise was even more dramatic – soaring from 8,274 in December to 9,054 last month.

Business leaders claim these latest figures show a stark need to help businesses take on new staff.

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said the city and the county had held up better than most when it came to employment figures at the end of 2011.

But the disappointing start to 2012, she said, proved that businesses need to be given more freedom to take on new staff and grow.

She added: “Even when the local figures on unemployment were holding up compared to other regions, I have said consistently that it should be made easier to employ more people.

"The government has promised to tackle issues surrounding red tape on employment and we need to see that really happening in earnest.

“A start has been made but businesses need to have the confidence that taking on new people is a positive rather than fearing the raft of issues and red tape they could be faced with.

"George Osborne should also look at next month’s budget as an opportunity to provide incentives to business who want to grow. That could be in the form of an NI reduction on employer contributions.”

Nationally, figures show the number of people out of work increased by 48,000 to 2.67 million in the three months to December. It takes the jobless rate to 8.4 per cent.

In the West Midlands, there was a rise of 0.4 per cent across a three-month period, with 247,000 people unemployed. Youth unemployment in January also increased with 53,460 claiming JSA compared to 51,500 in the previous month.

Ms Bennett added: “Taken in isolation, the figures don’t paint a very positive picture but January is often a time when temporary posts come to an end and we had seen modest falls in unemployment in Coventry and Warwickshire in the final months of 2011.

“So they may be skewed by those facts but, even so, action is required as soon as possible to help employers.”

What does the figure equate to as a percentage?

What does the figure equate to as a percentage?

These figures are for 'claimants' only and equate to around 5%. The 'official' total unemployment figure for Coventry is closer to 10%, a bit higher than the national average. The numbers of those in part-time employment who are still looking for full-time work reached a record high this month but are not included in the official total.

And of course, there are so many ways of massaging unemployment figures these days, getting to the real figure is no doubt impossible - and that's without all the part-times, people forced to take early retirement, etc. I'm inclined to think a better measure of employment 'health' would be average pay area by area, or say, total hours worked v total available hours for an area. But governments won't do anything like that, will they....?

And of course, there are so many ways of massaging unemployment figures these days, getting to the real figure is no doubt impossible - and that's without all the part-times, people forced to take early retirement, etc.

I'm afraid early retirement is no longer an option for most people, even if they are in poor health. Private pensions are often now almost worthless, Pension Credit is being phased out for people under 68 and long term sickness benefit is almost unobtainable these days.