Insider Media Limited

The West Midlands should be considered a “special case for treatment” after it continued to be the region with the highest unemployment stats. According to leading business figures, there is now a case for creating special economic zones in the worst-hit parts of the region. Simon Griffiths, chief executive of Manufacturing Advisory Service West Midlands (MAS-WM), told Insider he would “welcome” the consideration.

Speaking to Insider, Griffiths added: “We have had the worst unemployment figures for some time and we need some help. And if we could get some assistance for manufacturing, that would have a large benefit – manufacturing is a large part of the chain value here.”

Business leaders from across the region voiced their dismay at new figures which showed the rate of unemployment in the region continued to be the highest in the country.

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, unemployment nationally soared to a 17-year high of more than 2.5 million.

Statistics for the West Midlands showed that 265,000 were out of work, an increase of 27,000.

This meant that 9.9 per cent of the region’s workforce were jobless - a further blow after the shock rise of 48,000 between September and October.

Christine Braddock, president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, said: “Although we are not surprised by the latest figures, they are extremely worrying. In addition to on-going public sector job losses, the private sector is facing high levels of inflation plus last quarter’s shock contraction in the economy and high costs in raw materials.

“It is also bracing itself for a large raft of employment legislation over the course of this Parliament. We are broadly supportive of the government’s cuts agenda, which recognises that it is vital to shrink drastically the size of the structural deficit.”

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce echoed Braddock’s statement, describing the statistics as “disappointing but not unexpected”.

Alan Durham, director of policy at the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: We are beginning to see the government’s deficit cutting measures starting to bite and it was clear that this was going to have an effect on unemployment – particularly in the public sector.

“What hasn’t happened yet – and what will take some time – is business being able to take up the slack. There is still uncertainty in the economy – not helped by the GDP contraction in the final quarter of 2010.

“Companies we speak to regularly may be looking to recruit but not yet in the numbers that will offset what’s happening in the public sector.”

Angela Maxwell, director of the consultancy group Acuwomen, told Insider that treating the Midlands as a ‘special case’ when it comes to unemployment was sensible.

She said: “It is a special case. It is one of the hotspots that has been deeply affected and it makes sense to put resources into areas that need it.

“But it has to be put into the right things for tackling these problems.

“And support needs to be across a number of areas. Unemployment amongst young people is across the board and in all sectors. Professional services in one that has been hit especially hard."