Figures show high employment levels in Shropshire Council area
Four thousand new jobs were created in the Shropshire Council area in the past 12 months, and the area is outperforming the West Midlands region, and the UK as a whole, for the percentage of people in work, latest figures show.
The figures are revealed in the first in a series of three annual reviews of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Board’s Skills Action Plan for 2013-15.
The review shows that the employment rate in the Shropshire Council area is 76.8% – higher than the rate for the West Midlands (68.4%), and for the UK as a whole (70.8%).
Over the past 12 months, total employment in the Shropshire Council area has risen by 2.2% (or 4000 new additional jobs), compared to a West Midlands rise of just 0.1% and a UK rise of 0.2%.
And the review shows that the unemployment rate in the Shropshire Council area is 2.2%, compared to 4.1% for the West Midlands, and 3.2% for the UK as a whole.
It also found that the proportion of people who have been out of work for more than six months is 44.3% in the Shropshire Council area, much lower than the figure for the West Midlands (51.6%) and for the UK (49.2%).
And the average level of unemployment amongst 18-24 year-olds is 5% in the Shropshire Council area, compared to 7.4% for the West Midlands, and 6.2% for the UK as a whole.
The review also found that the proportion of 18-24 year-olds unemployed for more than six months is 1.7% in the Shropshire Council area, lower than both the West Midlands (3.0%), and the UK as a whole (2.3%).
And, whilst Shropshire Council has 500 young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs), this represents only 5.4% of the area’s young people, compared to 6.2% for the West Midlands, and 5.7% for the rest of the UK.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for business growth, said: “These figures show that in the Shropshire Council area employment levels are higher, and unemployment levels are lower, than in the West Midlands, and the UK as a whole, which is really good news.
“It’s great to see that the Shropshire Council area is ahead of the regional and national average for creating additional new jobs and the 4000 figure is very pleasing indeed. This really helps to demonstrate the strength of the economy in Shropshire and the success of our businesses and employers.
“Economic growth is one of the council’s top priorities and this shows all our hard work to strengthen the local economy, and help businesses to start-up and grow, is really working. We’ll continue to work hard to try and improve these figures still further.”
