Overall unemployment by rose 16,000 across the UK in November with claimant unemployment up 3,000. In Birmingham seasonally adjusted unemployment actually fell (from 12.6% to 12.5% in the past month) with the total number of claimants in the City falling by 48 from 50,876 to 50,828 in the month. Birmingham’s unadjusted figure fell by 532 in November, to 50,541 (12.5%). Unadjusted unemployment always tends to do better than the adjusted figure in the month of November as people find seasonal Christmas jobs.

Acocks Green continues to outperform Birmingham on an annual basis. Whereas unadjusted claimant unemployment in Birmingham has risen from 11.3% to 12.5% in the past year, in Acocks Green it has only risen marginally from 10.7% to 10.8%. It is generally the inner city wards that are doing relatively badly on an annual basis at the moment, though these wards did see some of the biggest monthly falls last month.