The economic downturn – impact on skills and the labour market

Our November 2008 briefing paper on the Economic Downturn, produced by WMRO’s Skills team, examines how the current economic climate is affecting the West Midlands in terms of skills and the labour market as a whole.

Here are the key headlines for quarter 3 of 2008:

• In the third quarter of 2008, the West Midlands saw the sharpest decline in employment prospects of any English region.
• The demand for staff with specific skills remains significant. Nearly 35,000 vacancies have been notified to the Region’s job centres in the year to September.
• Investment in training is becoming less of a priority particularly among small and micro firms in the manufacturing sector.
• But a significant proportion of employers are still encountering recruitment difficulties. Nearly 70% of manufacturing firms are still encountering problems recruiting new employees.

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