‘State of the region’ revealed West Midlands still in the slow lane for prosperity, skills and health
THE West Midlands trails the rest of the country in the areas of life expectancy, education and output, but is excelling in business start-ups and apprenticeships.
This is according to the ‘State of the Region’ document, published by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) earlier this month.
The annual publication is commissioned to study how the region is faring, comparatively, with the rest of the country.
It looks at areas such as economic growth, business competitiveness and productivity, employment, education and skills and health and wellbeing, among others.
Here, the Post gives a brief overview of some of the key figures from this year’s publication. While the economy of the West Midlands is progressing faster than many other areas of the country, the region still has a way to go before it is up there with the national average.
Since 2013, the West Midlands has seen its GVA (Gross Value Added) increase by 14.2 per cent, compared to a UK average of just 9.1 per cent.
GVA is a way of measuring the value of the goods and services produced in an area, and the West Midlands is certainly on the rise. With the 2021 City of Culture and the 2022 Commonwealth Games coming up, too, the future certainly looks bright.
However, the region still has a long way to go before it is level with the national average. The report puts the GVA per head for the West Midlands at £22,443, some £4,178 short of the national average of £26,621. This changes for specific regions in the West Midlands, though. The report notes that the area covered by the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP actually has a higher GVA per head than the national average, at £27,543. However, the area covered by the Birmingham LEP falls short, at £24,251, while the Black Country LEP comes in at just £17,113. Productivity and output are one area where the West Midlands finds itself way behind the national average. The state of the region document notes that there is a £16.9 billion output gap between the West Midlands and the rest of the country, saying: “Insufficient skills levels and too few residents in employment account for 30 per cent of the overall £16.9bn output gap.
“The remaining £11.9bn can be attributed to an economy lacking dynamism which represents low performance in competition, and a lack of investment, enterprise and innovation despite WMCA business births exceeding UK rate.
“It’s therefore important for the WMCA to support existing and new businesses in competitive industries to grow and diversify in their expertise in order to lead in innovation.”
In the area of business start-ups, however, the West Midlands is far exceeding expectations. There are currently 159,355 active companies in the WMCA area, with a 20.8 per cent increase since 2013. This, when compared to a national average increase of 15.7 per cent across the UK, show that the West Midlands is certainly growing.
In addition to this, the Black Country was second only to London in the proportion of UK businesses born in 2013 that went on to generate at least £1m in revenue after three years.
In total, 27,550 new businesses were started across the West Midlands Combined Authority in 2016, 46.5 per cent more business births than in 2013. The employment rate for the West Midlands in 2017 was 75.1 per cent, though the combined authority wants to reach the national government target of 80 per cent by 2030. Reaching this figure would require roughly an additional 285,160 people in employment.
They also want to match the UK’s annual earnings, with the average income in the West Midlands of £27,574 being below the national average of £28,578.
Indian males were the group with the highest employment percentage, at 80.3, while Pakistani/ Bangladeshi women had the lowest, at 35.4.
One of the biggest issues in the West Midlands, as in the rest of the country, remains the gender pay gap. Last year there were 592,000 men employed full time, compared to 355,000 women. The men earned, on average, £29,915 per year, a full £6,654 more than women. further 184,867 people to be qualified.
The number of apprenticeships being taken up has seen a slight increase in the region over the past year, while the rest of the country has seen a decrease, though the region still has some way to go before it can reach its target of 84,000 apprenticeships by 2030. It currently sits on 42,470, though this figure is still above the national average.
Youth unemployment has also been flagged as an issue by the mayor in recent months, with statistics showing that nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of youth claimants are male.
Perhaps one of the most shocking statistics from the report is of the difference in attainment between regular and disadvantaged children. It notes that disadvantaged pupils are likely to be 4.3 months behind in their early years, 5.4 months behind by year 2, 9.5 months behind by year six and a whopping 19.3 months behind toward the end of secondary school. The region has seen an increase in the number of claimants compared to this time last year, with 83,485 claimants in the WMCA in May 2018 compared with 73,175 during the same month last year.
One particularly worrying statistic for the West Midlands is that of infant mortality, with the rate of 6.6 per 1000 nearly double the national average of 3.9. The report also notes that in 2015 there were 1,389 births to teenage mothers, 325 more than the national average.
The number of physically inactive people in the region is also above the national average, with 30.3 per cent of the population doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week.
The region also shows a worrying health inequality gap between the best and least well off, with a 7.4 year gap in life expectancy for males and a huge nine year gap for females.