Emma has criticised the Government’s employment strategy, as new figures show the West Midlands is performing worse than the national trends for people in and out of work.

New figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the West Midlands has an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent, far higher than the 3.9 per cent UK average. While nationally unemployment fell, in the West Midlands there was no change.

Employment in the West Midlands rose 0.2 per cent, however this was half the national rise of 0.4 per cent.

Commenting on the figures, Emma said:

“The Government often boasts about their record on employment, but the latest unemployment figures show their strategy just isn’t working for our region. In the West Midlands, both employment and unemployment are behind the national average and, while nationally unemployment has gone down slightly, in the West Midlands there has been no change.

“If the Government urgently needs to address why the West Midlands is lagging behind the national employment rates and what they are going to do to tackle unemployment in our area.”