SkyscraperCity Forum banner

Birmingham Employment | General Thread

58K views 315 replies 64 participants last post by  sefton66 
#1 ·
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7789784.stm

Is it worrying that Birmingham has 4 out of the top 5 worst affected areas?
Birmingham Ladywood 10.7%
Birmingham Hodge Hill 9.6%
Birmingham Sparkbrook 9.1%
Birmingham Erdington 8.6%
Liverpool Walton 8.4%
 
#150 ·
Desperate jobseeker sets himself alight outside Selly Oak jobcentre


A DESPERATE job seeker set himself alight outside a Birmingham Jobcentre in an alleged row over his benefit payments.

Horrified eyewitnesses saw the man douse himself in flammable liquid after tying himself to railings at the Jobcentre Plus in Harborne Lane, Selly Oak, at around 9.20am.

Cops rushed to the aid of the 48-year-old man and sprayed him with fire extinguishers after he suffered burns to his lower legs.
The sign on the jobcentre door

The building remained closed throughout the day and claimants were told that payments would be made directly to banks. One eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said: “The guy came into the Jobcentre with petrol and made threats, so they evacuated the whole building.

I think it was something to do with a payment he had not received.

“He tied himself to the railings and tore open the bottom of his trousers. You could smell the fumes from the liquid he used, but the police arrived by the time he had set himself alight and they managed to put him out quite quickly.

“He would have to have been very desperate to have done something like that.

“It’s shocking that somebody could have been driven to those depths.”

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: “Officers were called at around 9.18am to reports that a man had tied himself to railings and was threatening to set himself on fire.

“The man doused himself in liquid and set himself alight
 
#153 ·
But presumably you didn't set yourself on fire?

Well done with the job.

I've worked for Jobcentre plus albeit on Fraud and I'm afraid for every top quality member of staff (and there are many) there's a self entitled dweeb just interested in what's in it for them.

V sad.
 
#156 ·
When I was unemployed, I really had to bite my lip hard when I went in the jobcentre. Some were great and helpful. Some were just going through the motions, while one lady in particular was extremely arrogant, rude, vulgar and actually seemed to find it quite difficult to hide her contempt of Unemployed people - Actually dressing down / bollocking her "customers" on a number of occasions in plain earshot of other people.

Like all large organisations you get the good, the bad, and the average. Seems harder to get rid of the Bad and motivate the average in the Public Sector though.
 
#157 ·
blahblahv2 said:
When I was unemployed, I really had to bite my lip hard when I went in the jobcentre. Some were great and helpful. Some were just going through the motions, while one lady in particular was extremely arrogant, rude, vulgar and actually seemed to find it quite difficult to hide her contempt of Unemployed people - Actually dressing down / bollocking her "customers" on a number of occasions in plain earshot of other people.

Like all large organisations you get the good, the bad, and the average. Seems harder to get rid of the Bad and motivate the average in the Public Sector though.
^^^ THIS
 
#160 ·
not much of a fall last month, but still unemployment down again

Unemployment falls in West Midlands but skills remain a problem claim business leaders
Jul 18 2012

Business leaders in the West Midlands have welcomed a drop in unemployment figures but said firms still find it hard to hire because of a lack of basic skills.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group (BCCG) called on the Government to make it easier to recruit and to up-skill the unemployed.

Office for National Statistics unadjusted claimant count figures showed that there was a fall in the number of out of work in Birmingham from 49,767 in May to 49,294 in June.

The latest figures show 10.7 per cent of the economically active in Birmingham are claiming Job Seekers Allowance. And in the West Midlands the claimant count figure fell from 164,526 in May to 162,407 in June.

Michael Ward, president of Birmingham Chamber, said: “Twenty six per cent of service firms reported that they expected their workforce to increase in the three months from quarter two and recruitment in manufacturing also remains robust with 24 per cent reporting that they expect to recruit.

“But many find applicants don’t even have basic English skills.

“There is a complex programme of youth contracts, city deals, a work programme and work experience schemes and it is no wonder that employers and potential employees are confused about how to help people back into work.

“The Chamber is urging the Government to find a way to simplify the routes into the multitude of initiatives and to provide real financial incentives to encourage participation in them.

“The Chamber is also bringing schools and businesses together in an initiative for schools to find out what skills businesses are looking for.”

Between March to May unemployment in the West Midlands was down by 18,000 to 8.4 per cent or 223,000.

Nationally unemployment fell by 65,000 in the same period to 2.58 million.

Mike Ashton, spokesman for the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce, said: “Businesses want to play their part, but it is vital that schools and business continue to work together to ensure the up and coming workforce have employable skills.”

Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/birmi...#sitelife-commentsWidget-bottom#ixzz210Z7U1FH
 
#161 ·
welcome news
Solihull firm LaSer UK lands Asda cashback contract
By Enda Mullen Aug 3 2012

More than 100 jobs are to be created at Solihull-based LaSer UK after the firm struck a deal with Asda to launch the country’s first supermarket cashback credit card.

The partnership is likely to see the creation of a further 100-plus jobs at the store card specialist for the retail sector to service the Asda contract over its five-year lifespan.

The new jobs will be created at the company’s Solihull call centre where it will manage customer services for the card.

Chief executive Stephen Hunt said: “What you will see with the Asda business over the next few months is that we will be taking on at least 100 extra people to service that account.


“We are currently in the launch phase but headcount will increase by about 100. And over the life of the programme with Asda – set to be five years – we will see the volume of people we need to service that increase by about another 100.

“The Asda project will probably double the size of our card business in the UK and gives the opportunity to create new jobs.”

The Asda deal represents the latest step in a phase of rapid growth for LaSer UK both in terms of business and jobs and Mr Hunt said at least one other big deal was in the pipeline.

It currently employs around 500 people at its Solihull town centre site and another 200 in Belfast, with at least 200 jobs created over the last three to four years.

Although many of the new jobs will be created in LaSer UK’s Solihull call centre Mr Hunt said he was keen to get away from the negative associations such roles sometimes have.

“A lot of roles are within the customer service area,” he said. “And one of the things I have been very keen on is trying to make people aware that working for a call centre doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

“We’ve invested quite a lot in the environment, training and working with the community to try and create a good environment to come to work.

“One of the things I wanted to see when we took people on was that eventually we would see people moving on around the business.

“We have had people who have moved into marketing, finance and even into the legal area.

“It is important for us as an employer to show people there are opportunities in the organisation no matter what role you come into.”

Asda has joined a host of household names working with LaSer UK that includes Flybe, Dell, Sony, Selfridges & Co, Dixons Retail, Sharps, DFS, Dreams and Ultralase.
Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/birmi...shback-contract-65233-31534992/#ixzz22VWTIiUl
 
#163 ·
UNEMPLOYMENT across the West Midlands went up in the last three months despite a fall nationally.

Across the region 8.8 per cent of people remained out of work between May and July, an increase of around 0.5 per cent, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

National unemployment fell to 8.1 per cent as the jobless total fell by 7,000 to 2.59 million.

The ONS warned the drop could have been a ‘bump’ effect caused by the Olympics while Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said the rise in the Midlands was evidence talk of an economic recovery was premature.

He said: ““For families suffering the misery of unemployment, any decrease will be welcome news, but it is clear when you look at the bigger economic picture that any talk of growth is premature.

“In areas such as Yorkshire and Humberside, and the West Midlands – where unemployment is among the highest – unemployment continues to go up, meaning yet more misery for families.”



Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/...e-national-fall-97319-31823781/#ixzz26NiPuE9I
 
#171 ·
“In areas such as Yorkshire and Humberside, and the West Midlands – where unemployment is among the highest – unemployment continues to go up, meaning yet more misery for families.”
Erm, the figure for May to July show a 7,000 increase, and the majority of that was in July, it had been decreasing before that from the start of the year, so where has it "continued to go up?", the blokes talking rubbish and trying to make political gain out of the situation as usual (as all politicians do).

People forget how badly the summer started economically, we are probably a little better off now than in July, but the end of the Olympics will see a national increase I would have thought, but mainly affecting the London and the SE.
 
#166 ·
Until the mid seventies Birmingham and Coventry were classed as boom towns with plenty of reasonably paid manual jobs in factories and steelworks and this explains why the cities were popular with commonwealth immigrants in the sixties, many took the jobs that were unfilled by white men due to lower wages like public transport. However, the decline of the area's industries after 1975 and the collapse of companies like Chrysler UK and Rover has hit the area hard.
 
#170 ·
In the early seventies Coventry had some of the highest wages in the UK. Chrysler UK (Who bought Rootes) was sold to Peugeot (After shedding thousands of jobs), but other large companies shed thousands of jobs - Alfred Herbert, Wickman, British Leyland, and GEC.

I don't know abut Brum, but Coventry's employment was heavily reliant on these companies and there was nothing else to take up the slack (The city's service industry was particularly weak.)
 
#167 ·
Just to add, the figures for unemployment only cover those claiming benefits, you can add three percentage points on the stats to cover all those registered as unemployed, which would give Birmingham a figure of 13.7 pc. Where I live now in Cumbria, the unemployment rate shows as 3.6 per cent, but the overall figure is 6.6 pc.
 
#169 ·
Aaronj09 said:
Very true. The NW for example kept on recording the highest increase earlier in the year, as did the NE, now both are recording declines, even more so than the SE (which actually recorded a rise recently).

For anyone interested, Sheffield Hallam University published 'the real unemployment' for every district in the country, except Northern Irish ones.

http://www.shu.ac.uk/_assets/pdf/the-real-level-of-unemployment-2012.pdf
Odd, when people don't consider the shit from their city to be better than the shit from other cities they tend to agree with me.

Others accuse me of trolling.
 
#176 ·
West Midlands is the only English region to see an increase

The West Midlands was the only English region to see unemployment rise in the last quarter as more than 5,000 people were added to the jobless list.

The total number of people out of work in the region stood at 233,000 during the three months from June to August, which represents a rate of 8.6 per cent.

Unemployment fell or remained the same in every other English region – but increased in Scotland and Northern Ireland – as UK-wide joblessness fell by 50,000 in the same period to 2.53 million, the lowest since the spring, giving a rate of 7.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of people in work in the UK has reached a record high, although more are in part-time jobs than ever, official figures revealed.
 
#177 ·
^^ yet...

Greater Birmingham outperforms rivals in job creation, according to ONS report
by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post Oct 25 2012

New data shows businesses in Greater Birmingham have out-performed the UK average in terms of creating new jobs.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that the area experienced an increase in private sector employment of 16,300 between September 2010 and September 2011.

The report suggests that private sector employment in the Local Enterprise Partnership area increased 2.6 per cent, which outperformed the UK average of 0.9 per cent.


Meanwhile, employment grew by 1.1 per cent in the Coventry and Warwickshire region over the same period, and by 0.6 per cent in the Worcestershire LEP area.


At the same time, employment fell by 0.1 per cent in the Greater Manchester LEP region, 0.7 per cent in the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP area and by 3.2 per cent in the Black Country LEP region.

The increase was driven by a rise in business, professional and financial services which enjoyed a growth of 15,300 and helped to offset a decrease in employment in retail of 6,500 and computer programming, consultancy and related industries of 3,500.

Andy Street, GBS LEP chairman, said: “It’s always important to take care when interpreting figures, but it’s equally important that the activity the LEP and its partners are undertaking is set against a background of measures.

"It is still too early for us to see the impact LEP programmes and initiatives are having on employment, particularly as the figures we are looking at are a snapshot of what was happening 12 months ago.

“However, it is encouraging to see the LEP area performing well in a number of key areas and it is important we can see sectors that are not performing so well in order to influence policy.

“We have set challenging targets of creating 100,000 jobs by 2020 and it is going to be important for us to measure the progress being made.”

Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/birmi...g-to-ons-report-65233-32099175/#ixzz2AJD9lEJj
 
#179 ·
Unemployment falls in West Midlands

A small fall, but at least its a fall in Unemployment.


Jobless figures are falling in the West Midlands – offering a festive ‘glimmer of hope’ for the local economy.

Latest statistics for unemployment across the region shows a fall of 1,000 to 236,000, raising hopes of an upturn for recruitment in the run-up to Christmas.



Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/...n-west-midlands-65233-32416050/#ixzz2EwXi4p8l
 
#181 ·
Report predicts jobs growth for Birmingham
2 Aug 2013 06:39

City expected to see employment grow, but underlying problems in its service sector hold it back

A Capital Economic report predicts a 10 per cent rise in jobs in Birmingham this decade

Employment will pick up by more than 10 per cent in Birmingham over the course of this decade – but its under-performing service sector remains a concern, according to a new study.

A total of 47,000 additional jobs will be created in the city between now and 2020, according to a new report entitled UK Cities and Regions Focus, taking the total number to 517,000 and outstripping the national performance.

However, while economists tip high speed rail and city centre investment to boost the city’s economy they say there are endemic problems, including a shortage of skills.

They also say the city is performing poorly in high value-added, knowledge-intensive activities, such as the legal, digital and media sectors.

The report states: “We forecast that over the period to 2020 employment in Birmingham will generally rise a little faster than it does nationally, reaching 517,000 in 2029.

“Mainly office-based employment accounts for 26,000 of that increase.

“However, the growth is skewed towards the decade’s second half, and is dependent on several enabling factors falling into place.

“If we are correct, this is an improvement on past performance, although to repeat, the improvement is not likely to come about immediately.”

Researchers at Capital Economics say the city is currently mirroring the UK-wide return to growth, and will continue to do so in the short term.

They believe the major spike in unemployment in the last quarter – which saw those out of work surge by 16,000 – was not as bad as reported, and down to “erratic” data, as research elsewhere suggests a stronger performance.

But, with unemployment running higher than in any region other than the North East, economists accept there is cause for concern. They also point to office vacancy data, which shows Birmingham has had more empty office space than all of its rival cities.

Economists also say the area is performing poorly in several manufacturing sectors – including aerospace and pharmaceuticals.

However, as ever, Jaguar Land Rover’s successes provide a boost, as well as the hundreds of millions of pounds invested in Longbridge by Chinese owner SAIC.

This means that in terms if automotive R&D, the region outstrips rival regions significantly. The report states: “Both of these company-led developments are therefore suggestive of Birmingham as a centre of advanced automotives technology.

"The West Midlands as a whole accounts for a disproportionately high proportion of the UK’s R&D in the transport equipment sector.”

However, it goes on to say that focus elsewhere – including aerospace and medical technology – had not yielded success. It points to low levels of spin-outs from universities like Birmingham and Aston, as compared to Manchester and Bristol, which each boast twice the amount, as a key reason.

The report adds: “Commentators have argued that a potentially important growth sector for the city region could be medical technology, rather than traditional pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately we are not hugely optimistic. Birmingham’s star company in medical technology is probably The Binding Site... the company’s sales to September 2012 were only £55 million, so trivial compared to the traditional pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline’s £26.4 billion.”

Researchers say the service sector must improve. They say while accountancy is about right for a city of its size, Birmingham trails rival cities in legal and financial services as well as the digital, creative and media sectors.

Greater Birmingham Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) chair Andy Street said he was pleased the challenges and opportunities identified in the report align with its Strategy for Growth.

However, he added: “We would put greater emphasis on the opportunities presented by HS2 and the report does not take into account the Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone which is already showing significant returns and speeding up development in the city.

“We certainly agree with the emphasis placed on the skills challenge. This has been a key focus for the LEP from the outset. Our recently launched Skills for Growth plan provides a programme for how we intend to tackle this.”
http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/business-news/report-predicts-job-growth-birmingham-5397229
 
#182 ·
^^ The region risks becoming a one trick pony again unless this is dealt with.
 
#183 ·
^^ I think that's why BCC has launched their economic zones with areas concentrated on specific sectors of employment

City centre for office based
Longbridge for ITEC
Tyseley for Energy/environmental
Aston for Advanced Manufacturing
Witton for Food
Selly Oak for Life Sciences/Medical
 
#184 ·
Hey guys,

Not sure if this is any use, but I thought those of you looking for jobs might want to attend Timber Expo at the NEC on the 24th and 25th September. Could be a great way to network and possibly find a job? Architects, construction companies and all sorts will be there. You just need to book on their website if you want to attend. Could be worth a try?
 
#185 ·
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/west-midlands-people-30-a-week-worse-5612350

West Midlands workers "£30-a-week worse off than in 2010"

Labour claims wages in region have dropped 7.2 per cent in three years
Working people in the West Midlands are almost £30 a week worse off than three years ago due to rocketing costs of living, a new study has found.

Wages in the West Midlands have fallen by 7.2 per cent since 2010 in real terms, Labour said.

That means that they have fallen by £29.80 a week or £1,550 a year after the effects of inflation are taken into account.

The figures come from wage data published by the Department for National Statistics.

A combination of businesses keeping wages down and relatively high inflation has hit living standards for ordinary working families, according to Labour.

The rate of inflation is currently 2.9 per cent, above the Bank of England’s target of two per cent – although it was also above this target under the last Labour government.

But Labour accused Ministers of making the problem worse by increasing VAT 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent from January 2011, which led to higher prices.

Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said the Government had cut income tax on salaries over £150,000 from 50p to 45p – which he described as “a tax cut for millionaires”.

Labour set out a range of measures which it said would limit increases in the cost of living, including capping increases in rail fares and preventing letting agents from imposing hidden fees on tenants.

Mr Leslie said Labour would manage the economy better, creating more growth which would lead to higher wages.

The campaign comes after some Labour MPs criticised Mr Miliband for failing to run an effective campaign against the Government.

Backbencher Graham Stringer claimed the Labour leader was making “a huge mistake” by “slumbering” during Westminster’s summer recess, rather than using the opportunity to attack the Conservatives while fellow-backbencher George Mudie warned that the party appeared “hesitant” and “confused” because of Mr Miliband’s failure to spell out a clear agenda to voters.

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: “Labour can’t be taken seriously on the cost of living when they refuse to acknowledge their role in creating the living standards squeeze in the first place, and have opposed every single difficult decision we’ve taken to secure an economic recovery that rewards hard-working people.”
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top