Unemployment has continued to plummet in the West Midlands – with 31,000 fewer people out of work in the past quarter.
The jobless rate in the region has reduced to 8.3 per cent, with 226,000 people out of work, as the economy continued to pick up in the final three months of 2013.
However, business leaders in the West Midlands warned that action was urgently needed on skills shortages.
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Tim Pile, president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said: “While this latest slight decrease in unemployment is welcome, unemployment in the region remains above the national average and is decreasing at half the rate.
“We have the second highest unemployment rate in the nation in the West Midlands. Despite this, our Quarterly Economic Survey consistently shows that services and manufacturing firms struggle to find suitable applicants for skilled roles. Skills remain a major issue.”
Nationally the jobless total was 2.34 million in the final quarter of last year, down by 125,000, giving a rate of 7.2 per cent.
The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance dipped to 1.22 million in January, down by 27,000 - the 15th consecutive monthly fall.
More women are in work than at any time since records began in 1971, at just over 14 million, today’s data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
But 1.4 million people are in part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work, a fall of 29,000 over the latest quarter but 46,000 higher than a year ago.