Midlands jobs gloom

Jobs gloom swept the West Midlands today as new figures revealed more people are out of work across the area, despite a national fall in the jobless total.

It is believed the region's reliance on manufacturing may be one reason.

The number claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton has risen by 774 to 30,598.

Although the statistics offer no explanation for the increase in unemployment for the whole West Midlands - up 6,790 over the past 12 months to 112, 817 - by the end of last year the number of workers in manufacturing nationwide had been slashed by 63,000 to a record low of just over three million.

Today's figures show 7,647 people claiming in Wolverhampton, up 145. In Walsall the figure was up 181 to 7,131. In Sandwell the number was up 245 to 8,798, while in Dudley it was up 204 to 6,778.

In Wyre Forest and Kidderminster the claimant count was up 109 to 1,315.

The picture was no better in Staffordshire. In Stafford the count was up 56 to 1,455, while in Cannock Chase another 67 people, or 1,394, were claiming. In South Staffordshire the count was up 81 to 1,183, while in Lichfield it was up 24 to 831.