Number of unemployed youths in city drops
YOUTH unemployment in Birmingham has more than halved in the last four years, according to new statistics.
A report from Birmingham City Council suggests the number of young people aged 16 to 24 claiming unemployment benefits in the city has fallen from 14,450 to 5,965 since 2012.
At 11.2 per cent, Birmingham has also seen the largest youth claimant reduction rate of the UK’s core cities.
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce chief executive Paul Faulkner described the figures as a positive step – but warned there was still plenty of room for improvement.
Birmingham’s youth unemployment rate remains at a 9.2 per cent – substantially higher than the core city average of 5.4 per cent.
Mr Faulkner said bridging the gap between the education and business sectors is crucial to tackling the issue.
He said: “Birmingham’s issues with youth unemployment are well documented and this city council report is particularly welcome as it highlights how far the city has come since 2012.
“Over the past four years, the number of young people claiming unemployment benefits in the city has fallen by 8,485 – an impressive accomplishment.
“Nevertheless, youth unemployment in Birmingham is still at an unacceptably high level with nearly 6,000 young people still looking for work.
“While the report shows that we are on the right path, it also reveals how far we still have to go and should motivate us to work even harder to address these issues.”
The report revealed Hodge Hill had experienced the biggest reduction in claimants of all the city’s constituencies, with Washwood Heath, Shard End and Bordesley Green also seeing a substantial fall.
Shilpi Akbar, assistant director for employment at the council, said: “We can be cautiously optimistic about the good news in this report. It shows that the direct measures we have put in place to tackle youth unemployment since we published the Commission on Youth Unemployment in 2013 are working - including in those wards with the highest and most intransigent numbers.”