Employment rises in Wolverhampton but other areas in Black Country see a fall

UK unemployment has dropped to its lowest figure in 50 years, according to official data from the Office for National Statistics, although soaring prices are still hitting the pockets of people across the nation as earnings fail to keep up with inflation.

ONS figures show that in Wolverhampton, 112,547 people were in payrolled employment in March – up from 112,497 the month before and from 106,367 in March 2021.

At the start of the pandemic, 109,348 people were in payrolled jobs in the area.

But there was a fall in Walsall to 114,851 people in payrolled employment in March – down from 115,026 the month before but up from 110,119 in March last year.

The number also fell in Sandwell to 139,582 people in March, down from 139,643 the month before but up from 132,783 in March 2021.

And the number dropped in Dudley too, where there were 135,654 people in payrolled employment in March, down from 135,822 the month before but up from 130,992 in March last year.

Across the UK, the unemployment rate hit 3.8 per cent in the three months to February – it has not been lower than this since 1974.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "The stats show the continued strength of our jobs market, with the number of employees on payrolls rising once again in March and unemployment falling further below pre-pandemic levels."

However, the ONS said real pay was now "falling noticeably", with regular wages excluding bonuses tumbling 1.8 per cent after inflation in the three months to February, the steepest decline in almost nine years.

Labour has called on Mr Sunak to "show the leadership the country needs" amid the cost-of-living crisis, while Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the Chancellor has done little to help families in the current climate.

"By holding down pay in the public sector and cutting Universal Credit, he has made the crisis worse," said Ms O'Grady.

"Families need help now. Whoever is Chancellor tomorrow should go to Parliament with an emergency budget to help with surging energy bills and to get wages rising."

Jack Leslie, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, called on the Chancellor to provide more support in the autumn budget, saying: "The sheer scale of this inflation-led squeeze of living standards makes it all the more remarkable how little support the Chancellor provided in his spring statement".

Mr Sunak acknowledged this is a "worrying time" but highlighted the £22 billion in support that the Government is providing in 2022-23, including the Household Support fund.

Employment minister Mims Davies added that the Government is "doing everything we can to help", including supporting people in moving into better paid, higher skilled work and increasing the National Living Wage and Minimum Wage.