Unemployment in Birmingham

[SimonTheSoundMan]

I liked how Vince Cable refers to the public sector as the inactive enconmy.

What is missing from the percentage working for the public sector is the private companies that are directly contracted. Services in my local council, such as road repair, parks, waste to name a few are done by private companies.

[feltip]

There are many parts of the public sector which aren't inactive anyway before you even get to the private companies contracted.

[feltip]

From the FT

Birmingham’s structures hide bleak reality
By Kiran Stacey

Published: June 23 2010 03:15 | Last updated: June 23 2010 03:15

Two gleaming new buildings epitomise Birmingham’s struggle to revitalise its economy as the deficit axe falls.

One is the modern glass and brick facade of the 45,000 sq ft, £6m innovation centre at the former Longbridge car plant that was intended to symbolise Birmingham’s manufacturing renaissance.

The other is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in leafy Edgbaston, site of Labour’s election manifesto launch in April. Opened to patients only last week, it already looks anachronistic – a product of the years of public sector plenty, when government expenditure was the motor of growth in compensation for a dwindling industrial base.

The city’s story is mirrored around the country in regions that emerged from the Blair/Brown years with their economies disproportionately dependent on the public sector.

But nowhere is the UK’s lopsided economy more apparent than in the West Midlands.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab96db06-7...44feabdc0.html

[Erebus555]

OK, I can understand the disappointment in the lack of success that the Longbridge centre has provided in terms of new businesses but to criticise the superhospital for not adding to the economy is just weak. The superhospital wasn't built to revitalise the economy of the city. It provides much needed facilities for the people, when they need them.

To me, it sounds like a scraping-of-the-barrel attempt to criticise the Labour years where it failed to deliver a substantial economic return, when that never was the point in the first place.

[sefton66]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10628641

Unemployment in Birmingham has fallen again, Ladywood fell 0.1% in June compared with May, Hodge Hill fell 0.3% and Sparkbrook fell 0.2%. Birmingham now only holds the top 3 areas for unemployment figures in the UK compared with May with Erdington falling by atleast 0.3% with West Belfast taking its place. Good to see unemployment in the region is falling, especially when going back to January 2010 Birmingham held the top 5 areas for unemployment in the whole of the UK

[morestoreysplease]

When the Future Jobs Fund money is stopped plus all the other cuts planned there's going to be a steep increase I feel.

[Erebus555]

This city and the county will really suffer from the government cuts. It's going to be very very painful indeed.

[Sonny97]

It's much worse than originally feared, although whether this is just bluster is a moot point.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ngham-10636616

Birmingham City Council to make £230m of savings

Birmingham City Council estimates it will have to make £230m of savings during the next four years.

The council, the largest local authority in the UK, previously said it would have to make savings of up to £69m by April 2011.

Chief executive Stephen Hughes said it was "a big number".

He said he would have a better idea about how to make those savings later on in the year and that the council was working hard to "crack the problem".

Mr Hughes said the range of the cuts depended on how the council analysed how the government might make reductions which impacted on councils.

"Until they finish their analysis we won't know," he said.

He said the council would probably look at administration costs and "opportunities for maximisation" - looking to see if affairs can be run in a more "business-like" way.


I can't say they will have a job for ever and a day, its not going to be true”

The council currently employs about 55,000 people, including school-based staff and casuals.

Mr Hughes, paid £200,000 per year, said he did not know how many people would be employed in a few years.

He added he would be fooling people if he said it did not mean the council was going to employ less staff.

"What we need to do is manage that process in a way that minimises the impact on the people who are directly affected," he said.

Asked to give a message to council workers, he said: "It is going to be tough, we will be open and honest with them about what changes are going to happen.

"We will try and tell them as quickly as possible what they are and we will take account of their views.

"I can't say they will have a job for ever and a day, its not going to be true."

Last year, he said, the council had reduced staff numbers by about 1,000 but less than 100 jobs went by compulsory redundancies.

"We have demonstrated that we can manage the change in a way that is least disruptive to staff and that is what we will want to continue to do," he said.

The jobs had gone through reducing agency staff, voluntary redundancies and natural turnover, he said.

He added projects such as the Metro expansion from Snow Hill to New Street were under review but he was hopeful it would go ahead.

Other big projects, such as the New Street station rebuild, were settled before the cuts were realised.

[sefton66]

Birmingham City Council estimates it will have to make £230m of savings during the next four years.

The council, the largest local authority in the UK, previously said it would have to make savings of up to £69m by April 2011.

I dont understand this, they previously said £69m had to be saved by 2011 but now they're saying they need to make savings of £230m over the next 4 years? that adds up to an average of £57.5m per year over the 4 years, so were actually better off than first thought?

[Erebus555]

£230 million is still an enormous number and the impact on services is getting substantial, I suspect. It's good that the council have seen this coming to some extent - hence why they're building the new offices to consolidate departments. I can't even begin to think where they can start with cuts, however.

[morestoreysplease]

I wonder how much of a hole the supposed "grants" BCC taxpayers have donated to lots of other local authorities housing departments, including Sheffield and Manchester, has been created? And if so, why are we never helped back?

[feltip]

Globe and Mail video report as part of Broken Europe series focussing on Birmingham

Birmingham: Britain's unemployment capital
Globe and Mail Update Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010 01:48PM EDT

Doug Saunders reports from the English city ravaged by job losses as part of his Broken Europe series

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1656157/

[Guilbert53]

Originally Posted by feltip

Globe and Mail video report as part of Broken Europe series focussing on Birmingham

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1656157/

Headings like "Britain's unemployment capital" and "Broken Europe" hardly do much to help the image of the city do they.

I notice they start the video in Eastside, in front of Curzon St station.

I really do wonder what the future of this country is.

I remember a National Lampoon magazine from many years ago when it had a fake headline that Disney had bought the UK to turn it in to a giant theme park.

Does make you wonder if that is our future, a toursit centre where people from the rest of the world come here to marvel at Stonehenge, York Minster, Stratford upon Avon, Buckingham Palkace etc.

[MichaelWolves]

I moved form Wolverhampton to Birmingham a couple of months ago to find work because there is no work at all in Wolverhampton and within 2 weeks of me moving i found a job. Birmingham is the place to find jobs because there are new buisnesses opening everywhere and i'm glad i moved!

[BrummieLad]

thats bull Michael, if you can find a job in Birmingham, then you can find a job in Wolverhampton. fact!

[Erebus555]

Depends on your skills. There are jobs in Wolverhampton and Birmingham but they are in all sorts of different sectors, requiring a range of skills.

[sefton66]

I think its more to do with people not wanting to work/choosing not to work rather than there being "no jobs" I know a lot of people who live outside Birmingham who come here to work because they cant get work in the area they live. We might be the unemployment capital in terms of the amount of people claiming benefits by percentage, we did hold the top 5 spots of benefit claimants in the UK, that has now gone down to the top 3 but it shouldn't be confused with job wise, Birmingham has a lot of jobs to offer.

[MichaelWolves]

Originally Posted by BrummieLad

thats bull Michael, if you can find a job in Birmingham, then you can find a job in Wolverhampton. fact!

In wolverhampton there are places closing left right and center, i got made redundant twice.

[BrummieLad]

Like Erebus said.... there are jobs in every city and town in this country, it just depends if the people have the right skills for that job, if you don't have whats qualified for that job then you won't get that job and there's no point applying for it.

It's a struggle & I know myself, so don't say nothing to me about it, ok.

[Erebus555]

Originally Posted by MichaelWolves

In wolverhampton there are places closing left right and center, i got made redundant twice.

I am guessing by that post that you're talking about retail jobs? In that case, I can understand there being more difficulties finding a job in Wolvo than in Birmingham.

It's also worth checking out agencies such as Office Angels who can help find you jobs in sectors other than retail that also require very little training. I found a job through them a few years ago before all the economic difficulty started and found them really helpful. I stayed in that job for around a year, having initially being hired to be a temp.