The effects of the current economic recession are being felt right across the region. However, some areas are being hit harder than others.
The Observatory has recently undertaken research to identify those parts of the West Midlands that are most vulnerable to the recession. The West Midlands Taskforce will use the research, alongside a range of other information, to target its activities.
Identifying vulnerable places
To identify vulnerable places, we used a series of indicators. These covered short, medium and long-term indicators.
Short-term indicators focused on the immediate economic impacts, such as the presence of vulnerable industrial sectors, increasing unemployment or falling pay levels.
Medium-term indicators were mainly around social issues, such as the housing market and crime.
Long-term indicators looked at areas which are likely to be in a weak position to benefit from the recovery, because of historic declines of employment or population, or because of low levels of skills or enterprise.
Most of the indicators were analysed at local authority level but for some we also looked at smaller geographical areas, CAS wards, to help us to identify 'hot-spots' within local authorities.
The most vulnerable local authorities were found to include traditionally deprived areas like Stoke-on-Trent, Sandwell and Birmingham. However, the list also included some less obvious places like Redditch, Wyre Forest and Bridgnorth. Ward level analysis identified some smaller towns, such as Whitchurch and Evesham, as well as larger towns and cities.
Download the results
The results of our analysis are available in a series of maps with accompanying commentary (PPT, 2.75mb).
You can also download the dataset (XLS, 310kb) containing all of the indicators used in our analysis. The data is available at local authority district and CAS ward level.