West Midlands City Region Employment Profile

Posted on by Rebecca FlorissonAman NavaniReiss Tigwell

West Midlands

The West Midlands Combined Authority has the largest population of the nine English Combined Authorities at 2,916,100 (ONS, 2022). It brings together seven local authorities: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.

It has a lower employment rate (69.2%) and a higher unemployment rate (6.3%) than the English average (3.7%) [ONS, 2023]. Economic inactivity is higher in the West Midlands Combined Authority (26.1%) than the rest of England (21.4%) [ONS, 2023]. Workers in the region earn a weekly wage of £616, which is £14 below the English average wage (Centre for Cities, 2023).

Nearly one in five (21%) workers in the West Midlands Combined Authority are in severely insecure work, compared to the national average of 19.8%. It has the third highest level of severely insecure work out of the nine English Combined Authorities.

The West Midlands Combined Authority has a higher number of zero-hour contracts and involuntary and voluntary temporary work than the national average. On the other hand, we saw lower levels of second jobs and solo self-employment.

Across the Combined Authority, there is significant variation in the prevalence of severely insecure work amongst the seven local authorities. Wolverhampton is the hotspot in the city region with a quarter of its workers (25.6%) in severely insecure work, which is six percentage points above the English average. In Dudley, 13.6% of workers are in severely insecure work which is approximately six percentage points below the English average.

Analysis shows that women, workers from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled workers, and workers between the ages of 16 and 24 are most likely to be in severely insecure work in the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Source: Work Foundation calculations of the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey; 2021- 2022.

Source: Work Foundation calculations of the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey; 2021- 2022.

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