A healthier, fairer recovery
After forging a position as the fastest-growing region outside London in the decade to 2019 and breaking through the £100 billion economic output mark, the region’s industrial mix and demography meant we were hit particularly hard by the economic impact of the Covid pandemic and new trade frictions with the EU. These impacts are expected to be felt for many years, particularly in disadvantaged areas and among households in lower socio-economic groups.
Ensuring that residents in the West Midlands have the skills now to secure readily available jobs, as well as the opportunity to develop higher level skills for the jobs of the future, is crucial to ensuring our economic success. Getting this right will also help us to attract new businesses and industries to the region.
The West Midlands Plan for Growth sets the path to returning to a trajectory of clean and inclusive growth, spreading opportunity and jobs across the region and helping level-up the UK. It focuses on those economic clusters where the region can ignite above-forecast levels of growth, creating prosperity across the region. Alongside this, our wider efforts provide support for businesses in other critical sectors vital to the region’s success and prosperity.
Our latest Local Skills Report sets out the skills strengths and needs of the region, providing a strategic steer to our use of AEB and wider skills funding. Within this, we have prioritised the advanced manufacturing and engineering (AME) sector for further investment, supporting residents to improve their employment prospects in the sector, whilst also providing a talent pipeline for local businesses.