3.2.3
Plain English Version
When the type of work available in a place changes, the amount of people who have a job is affected. For example the new jobs created do not necessarily match the skill sets of those who were formerly in manufacturing.
Birmingham as a whole has higher unemployment and less economic activity than the average for the UK – but as we have a lot of students this might be slightly better than that.
There are a lot of people in Birmingham that are out of work, and to try and get them jobs the council is spending money on computers and technology, and developing businesses run by the sorts of people who don’t run many businesses – such as ethnic minorities and women, and social enterprise.
A series of high-tech business areas are planned along the A38 (Bristol Road) running through the City Centre to Longbridge and beyond — we call this the “Central Technology Belt“.
Original Document
Economic change and the skills base have an impact on the level of worklessness, because the new jobs created do not necessarily match the skill sets of those who were formerly in manufacturing. For Birmingham as a whole unemployment rates are above the national average and economic activity rates are below the national average. The economic activity rate for Birmingham at 66% is around 8% below the national average, although some of this is accounted for by students. As a result there are a large number of individuals either claiming Job Seekers Allowance or who are economically inactive – people of working age who are not working, are not in full-time education or training and are not actively seeking work. To address this on a city wide scale the city is investing in ICT and research and development, under-represented businesses such as those run by ethnic minorities and women, and social enterprise. A series of high-tech developments are planned along the A38 running through central Birmingham to Longbridge and beyond known as the ‘Central Technology Belt’.