Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the most recent unemployment figures are for (a) Birmingham and (b) the West Midlands by, (i) gender, (ii) age, (iii) religion, (iv) ethnicity, and (v) socioeconomic group.

Estimates of the number of people who are unemployed are compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS). The LFS provides national and regional unemployment estimates whilst the APS, which is a modified version of the LFS, allows sub-regional analysis.

Estimates are based on a sample of cases and therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. Unemployment estimates at sub-regional geographies such as local authorities and parliamentary constituencies are especially uncertain, as are estimates by sub-group of the population.

Many estimates of unemployment used in this answer are publicly available on the NOMIS website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/). Other sources are outlined in the footnotes.

Table 1: Estimates of unemployment in a) Birmingham and b) the West Midlands by specified group

¹ Source: Apr 2019-Mar 2020, Annual Population Survey

² National unemployment rates are available in the “Religion, education and work in England and Wales: February 2020” available at the following link, more detailed breakdowns have low sample sizes https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/religioneducationandworkinenglandandwales/february2020

³ Apr 2020-Jun 2020, Labour Force Survey, total unemployed - aged 16 and over

⁴ https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/unemployment-and-economic-inactivity/unemployment/latest#title

⁵ ONS publish employment by socio-economic classification on NOMIS but not unemployment