News and features

Mon, 8 Dec 2008

West Midlands skills 'on the rise'

Study finds skills have improved but region still lags behind national average.

A report from the West Midlands Regional Observatory (WMRO) has revealed that the West Midlands ranks seventh out of nine regions in England as determined by workforce skills.

This suggests employee learning and education has improved in the area, as it was last on the list four years ago, according to the Birmingham Post.

However, there is still much further to go before the region catches up with the national average, the study suggests.

Stoke, Birmingham and the Black Country rank particularly low for skill levels and there is a higher proportion of people without qualifications in the West Midlands than anywhere else in England.

Traditionally, employment in the West Midlands has been centred around manufacturing, with the car industry one of the biggest contributors.

But this sector has decreased rapidly in size in recent years, according to the WMRO, now accounting for approximately 15 per cent of jobs in the region.

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