Stourbridge dole queues double as recession bites (From Stourbridge News)

Stourbridge dole queues double as recession bites

11:13am Tuesday 2nd June 2009

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JOBLESS figures in Stourbridge have more than doubled in the last year as the recession bites in the region.

The shocking rise of 120 per cent is the second highest increase out of 14 areas in the Black Country since April 2008.

Other parts of the region have also been hit hard, during the same period unemployment in Dudley rose by 68 per cent but Stourbridge professionals may be bearing the brunt of job losses in the failing financial system.

Stourbridge Conservative spokesperson Margot James said: “Professional services have been particularly badly hit, a lot of people who live in Stourbridge and commute to Birmingham have been affected.”

Margot, who met with regional directors of Job Centre Plus to discuss unemployment in Stourbridge, added: “Unemployment is rising faster in the West Midlands than in any other part of the country and in Stourbridge we are facing the second highest increase west of Birmingham.”

The former businesswoman who plans to challenge for the Stourbridge constituency at the next general election says cuts to schemes like the Learning and Skills Council’s Train to Gain initiative are making a bad situation worse.

Margot says reduction in funding for Train to Gain means colleges will no longer be able to take new entrants.

She also argues authorities need to recognise the need to spend money in an area regarded as affluent in relation to its neighbours.

Margot said: “It is no time to be cutting the Train to Gain budget locally.

“Times have changed, the Learning and Skills Council, Advantage West Midlands and Dudley Council need to realise Stourbridge is not a leafy market town.”

Statistics from the Black Country Job Seekers Allowance Register show an increase from April to April of 73.9 per cent for the entire Black Country.

The April total for people claiming Jobseekers Allowance in Stourbridge rose from 1,684 in 2008 to 3,718 this year.

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