00:00A new report has highlighted the number of working-age people across the West Midlands who remain outside the labour
00:08market.
00:09Economic activity across the region stands at around 25%.
00:14That's higher than the UK average, with long-term ill health identified as a major factor.
00:21The West Midlands Combined Authority says tackling those barriers will be crucial if more communities are to benefit from economic
00:29growth.
00:30Birmingham, a traditional manufacturing city.
00:34Now, it's hard to believe, but back in the 1960s, there was a real worry about Birmingham in so far,
00:40of course, it was expanding very rapidly because of the influx of people drawn in by manufacturing.
00:46And, of course, they were drawn in by the relatively high wages.
00:49And, of course, if you look at the facts from then, of course, people were really well paid.
00:54Of course, it was the way that you've got people to come and work for you.
00:57So, of course, what we know happened in the late 70s and 80s, we had de-industrialisation, a word of
01:04the moment.
01:05Andy Burnham hopes to re-industrialise.
01:08And my view on that one is perhaps good luck because, of course, so much water has passed on the
01:13bridge.
01:13We're not going to see the mass manufacturing come back.
01:16It's going to be a high-tech industry.
01:18Now, of course, we used to talk about unemployment.
01:20And, of course, unemployment is part of this package that's called economically inactive.
01:24And what that means is people in between the age of 16 and 64, so it's a little bit out
01:30of date, if you like, because, of course, the pension age is going up.
01:33But, nonetheless, the people who could work do not work.
01:36Now, of course, that may be about unemployment.
01:38It may be because you're a student.
01:40It may be because people sort of decided they've got enough money in the bank or they access their pension
01:45early.
01:46Or, of course, something that we've seen sort of rise very rapidly.
01:49It's people on sickness benefits or all sorts of other benefits.
01:53Andy Burnham made an announcement fairly recently about the fact that some regions of which Birmingham's part of the West
02:00Midlands Combined Authority would get back a share of the taxation.
02:05Now, of course, that relates directly for the amount of money going in.
02:08So the fact that as a region or certainly as a city, more particularly, that sort of a third of
02:13the people aren't working, that means, of course, that that money is not going in the first place.
02:16But there's a whole set of other consequences.
02:18And, of course, this is a national problem, but obviously sort of much more sort of focused on Birmingham and
02:23the West Midlands, is that if people are not working, of course, they're not contributing.
02:28And, of course, a shrunken workforce becomes a real problem because how do we then afford things like the state
02:32pension, but also the money that's needed to go into the health service, education, defence.
02:38And, of course, the money that we're going to need to have to invest to sort of create that sort
02:41of future economic activity.
02:43Well, the report worryingly says economic activity is still falling, but remains above the national average.
02:50Long-term ill health continues to be a major barrier with improving health and access to work, seen as key
02:57to closing the gap.
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