A quarter of children in Sandwell live in jobless homes
People living in nearly a quarter of homes in Sandwell are jobless, new figures have revealed.
A total of 22.6 per cent of households don’t have anyone in work – way above the national average of 15.1 per cent.
In addition, 24.1 per cent of the borough’s children live in jobless households, a massive difference compared to 11.4 per cent nationally. There are a total of 21,900 households in the borough classed as jobless.
The figures were revealed in a Sandwell Council report exploring how to get more people into work.
It also showed that 12.4 per cent of Sandwell residents are claiming benefits, such as jobseeker’s allowance, employment support allowance or incapacity benefits.
Council chiefs said Sandwell’s jobless situation had improved in recent years but that there was still a huge gulf between the borough and the national average.
However, the number of people with no qualifications has risen, which experts said could be partly down to an influx of migrants. A massive 24.8 per cent of people in Sandwell have no qualifications at all – compared to just eight per cent nationally.
Decline
The report said: “The number of workless households in Sandwell has begun to decline over recent years but there are still more than one in five households that do not have a working age person in employment.
“Almost a quarter of Sandwell’s children are living is households where there is no-one in employment. This is more than 10 per cent more than the West Midlands and Great Britain.
“The number of qualifications within the borough remains much lower than those of the West Midlands and Great Britain.
“In recent years the number of people with no qualifications has risen to nearly a quarter of the working age population.
“This could be caused by migrants to the area with no qualifications. It is also due to Sandwell residents gaining qualifications and moving out of the area to areas of greater opportunities.”
West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey said: “The figures underline what councillors and members of Parliament experience every day in their surgeries.
“Theresa May promised to have a government that works for everybody. That certainly isn’t the case in Sandwell. There is no doubt people are feeling the pinch here.”
“Investment in our education has not been as great as it needs to be. Schools have had disproportionate funding cuts, class sizes are rising and that’s bound to impact on education and job prospects.”
