West Midlands jobs 'worst hit' by recession
The West Midlands and the north-west were the UK regions hardest hit by the recession in terms of unemployment, new figures have shown.
In its report on the impact of the economic downturn during 2008 and 2009, the Office for National Statistics revealed the unemployment rate in the West Midlands rose 4.7 percentage points, while the north-west figure jumped four percentage points.
Meanwhile, the smallest increases in unemployment rates were in the South East and East Midlands, which experienced rises of 2.1 percentage points.
On a sector-by-sector basis, the manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade industries suffered the sharpest drop in jobs across the country, contributing to at least 39 per cent of the total job loss in the east of England, East Midlands, south-east, south-west, West Midlands and Wales.
In the housing market, the number of property sales decreased rapidly, falling by approximately 40 per cent over the year between the second quarter of 2007 and the same period in 2008.
House prices also declined, with the east and south-east seeing the largest dip and London the smallest.
Crime "continued to decrease during the recession", while the level of net international migration into the UK fell, the analysis went on to reveal.
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