Economic bulletin

We are ambitious for the economy of Staffordshire, our businesses, and people. The impacts of global events continue to be felt on the local, national, and global economies and cannot be ignored. However, the county council, Government, and our partners, will continue to support Staffordshire’s residents and businesses through challenging times, ensuring we are well-placed to deliver a more resilient, more dynamic and more productive local economy.

Our ambitious Economic Strategy is our roadmap to delivering our ambitions for the Staffordshire economy, where our existing business are helped to grow, new businesses are established and thrive, our residents have the skills needed to access the jobs of the future and our towns across the county are supported to be places we can all be proud of.

An Employment and Skills Strategy 2023-2030 has been developed to support this and can be used to guide future employment and skills work programmes, to enable effective communication of Staffordshire’s shared employment and skills goals, and to inform the development of the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.

A summary brochure of the Staffordshire Employment and Skills Strategy 2023-2030 has also been produced.

To effectively achieve our priorities and deliver our long-term vision for our economy we need robust ongoing analysis and evidence of the latest economic picture, ensuring that we are aware of any challenges that may arise. The monthly Economic Bulletin forms a key part of our live evidence base.

Latest edition

Latest Edition (1.92 MB)

Welcome to the latest edition of the Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent Economic Bulletin produced by our Economy, Skills and Insight Teams, which provides the timeliest analysis of official Government data, national intelligence and local insights on the state of the local economy.

Alongside information on the Claimant Count and Job Vacancies that will be a part of every Bulletin, this month’s issue also provides more detailed youth claimant count analysis and updated ward level analysis of the claimant count to help identify areas which are being impacted the hardest by unemployment and a reliance on work-related benefits across Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent and where there may be a greater need for support. We also provide analysis of the latest business insolvency data to further understand how businesses are faring during the current economic climate.

We hope you find the Bulletin useful and welcome your comments and suggestions on further information you would like to see included in future editions.  If you do have any feedback please send your comments to SkillsAnalysis@staffordshire.gov.uk.

Stay Safe,

Darryl Eyers

Director for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, Staffordshire County Council  

Key messages from edition 58  

Local Picture

This month we have seen an increase in the Claimant Count. It should be noted that changes by the Department of Work and Pensions introduced in May 2024 are expected to increase the claimant count nationwide.

Job vacancies have decreased this month, and new job postings in Staffordshire have decreased below pre-pandemic levels. In comparison, job vacancies in the region have decreased at a higher rate below pre-pandemic levels whilst nationally there has been a similar decrease.

We will continue to support our residents into work and ensure that Staffordshire has the strong workforce it needs to grow the economy.

We also continue to support local businesses that face ongoing challenging conditions due to a wide range of factors including high interest rates and energy prices, increased commodity costs, increased wage levels and lower consumer demand.

Looking at the local data in more detail, following increases in the claimant count since before the start of the year, the number of work-related benefit claimants in Staffordshire increased by 445 claimants this month to a total of 15,715 claimants.

The claimant rate for Staffordshire increased from 2.8% to 2.9% of the working age population, this month. Staffordshire saw an increase of 2.9% this month, slightly higher than the 1.3% increase in the region and the 1.6% increase nationally.

Staffordshire continues to have one of the lowest claimant rates in the region, far lower than the regional average 5.5% which remained the same this month, and lower than the England average 4.2% which increased from 4.1%.

Turning to job vacancies, Staffordshire saw a 4% decrease in the number of available job vacancies between April and May to a total of 11,500. This is lower than the number of work-related benefit claimants in Staffordshire. Stoke-on-Trent saw a 5% increase in job vacancies to a total of 4,700 which is significantly lower than the number of claimants. Across the region in the last month there was a 1% decrease, and nationally there was no change in the number of job vacancies.

Considering the top 20 job vacancy occupations in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, demand for roles in social care continue to remain high with ‘Care Workers & Home Carers’ being the most in demand occupations.

The following occupations, ‘Sales Related,’ ‘Cleaners & Domestics,’ and ‘Secondary Education Teaching Professionals’ also have strong demand.

It is in these areas of the economy where job vacancies remain particularly high and where we are hearing reports of labour and skills shortages with a mismatch of workers or skills to fill vacant jobs.

This has the potential to slow down economic growth and limit business survival unless the labour shortage and skills gap is quickly and effectively addressed. Clearly employment support organisations, skills providers and the Government’s Plan for Jobs including the Connect to Work schemes and new Skills Bootcamps have a vital role in upskilling and reskilling jobseekers into areas of demand and preventing them becoming long-term unemployed. Government and business sectors have a key role in ensuring that jobs in areas of demand are attracting workers with good pay and terms and conditions to help prevent labour shortages.

There continues to be a high number of jobs available in the local economy and the need now is to ensure that there is a strong local labour pool with skilled workers able to fill these roles to support business recovery/survival and improve prosperity through better pay. The national and local support which is in place to support those that have been unfortunate enough to lose their jobs is vital in both reskilling and upskilling as well as enabling potential applicants to access the opportunities available. Encouraging those that have become economically inactive since COVID through the Connect to Work Programme will further help to address labour shortages and skills gaps.

Staffordshire County Council’s dedicated Job Brokerage Service is designed to do exactly this by matching local people, employers, and training providers to fill jobs and provide people with the jobs and careers they need.

There are clear emerging opportunities for job creation in the digital economy (including online retail and e-commerce), construction sector (including retrofitting homes), the car industry e.g. electric cars at Jaguar Land Rover, and in manufacturing e.g. hydrogen combustion technology at JCB.

We will also look to build on our existing strengths including engineering and advanced manufacturing through the adoption of AI, Automation and Machine Learning, construction to achieve Government house building targets and build major new infrastructure projects such as the West Midlands Freight Interchange which will create 8,500 new jobs. Also advanced logistics with ecommerce has continued demand with the announcement by Pets At Home in Stafford creating over 750 new jobs.

We will continue to support our residents into work and ensure that Staffordshire has the strong workforce it needs to grow the economy.

Local Initiatives

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent businesses that have been turned down by other lenders can now apply to the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Business Loan Fund, supporting businesses to grow through affordable, unsecured loans from £10,000 to £50,000.

Applications for Staffordshire Means Back to Business Scheme business loans and grants remain open to small businesses in Staffordshire, including the Get Started and Grow Scheme.

Alongside this there is support available through the Growth Hub and we have our start-up schemes and the Staffordshire Jobs and Careers Service.

The Staffordshire Business and Enterprise Network (SBEN) continues to support local businesses with the transition to Net Zero.

Businesses in Staffordshire can now apply for free energy assessments through the Green Solutions scheme.

To ensure residents have access to the support needed to find employment there are several employment and skills programmes which they can access including the Connect to Work and skills bootcamps.

Stoke-On-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub have partnered with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to offer free 1-2-1 virtual business support sessions.

The Staffordshire County Council Workplace Health Service, working with public health and local health experts, offers businesses a comprehensive and funded package of online and in-person support.

National Context

This month we have heard the Chancellor deliver the UK's first multi-year spending review since 2021. The review sets the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years, used to pay staff and deliver public services. It also sets their investment budgets until the end of the decade, to pay for new infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and military equipment.

Beyond the spending review the Government will increase the infrastructure budget to at least £725 billion over the next decade as it begins to set out how key capital funding will be spent across the country ahead of the publication its infrastructure plan.

The infrastructure plan will be followed by the announcement of sites for “new towns of the future” and the Government will unveil its long-awaited and much anticipated Industrial Strategy - a key component of its broader economic growth plan.

Cost of Living

UK inflation rose by 3.4 per cent in the 12 months to May 2025, which was the same as the rise seen in April. This is above the rate remains above the Bank of England target of 2 per cent.

At the same time, we are seeing annual real terms growth in wages steadily decline.

Annual growth in real terms, adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index excluding owner occupiers' housing costs (CPI), was 2.1% for regular pay and 2.3% for total pay in February to April 2025.

Economy

The UK economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in April, this was more than expected by most economists. Economists had expected a 0.1% contraction in April after growth of 0.2% in March. The slowdown has been blamed on the financial uncertainty caused by steep tariffs imposed by Donald Trump, alongside early impact from UK employer tax increases.

However, it should be recognised that monthly figures on the economy are volatile, and the more stable three-month figure to April showed the economy grew by 0.7 per cent.

Business Conditions

Alongside rising global uncertainty and the introduction of new business-related UK taxes, many businesses continue to have concerns around longer-term issues including high interest rates and energy prices, increased commodity costs, wage pressures, supply-chain constraints, lower consumer confidence and some labour market challenges.

The latest business insolvencies data shows that in May 2025 there were a total of 2,231 company insolvencies in England and Wales, 12% higher than the number registered in the previous year (2,000 in May 2024), and 22% higher than the number registered three years previously (1,826 in May 2022). The main concern around company and individual insolvencies are associated issues such as mental health and homelessness.

Labour Market

The labour market continues to loosen but wage pressures for businesses remain.

It is concerning that this month’s labour market figures show that payrolled employees have further declined and are expected to decrease further, at a time when there are fewer job vacancies.

More encouragingly, economic inactivity has seen a further decline, however given the challenging economic conditions movements from economic inactivity have seen both employment and unemployment rise this month.

Although it is positive that more people are actively looking to engage in the labour market, this comes at a time when businesses are reducing recruitment and making redundancies, therefore it will be more challenging for those looking for work to find work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Chancellor has delivered her Spending Review with overall departmental spending to rise by 2.3% a year in real terms. The Treasury has also set out plans to spend a minimum of £725bn over 10 years to boost UK-wide economic, housing and social infrastructure to drive growth through the Government’s infrastructure strategy. While we also await the much-anticipated Industrial Strategy, a key component of the Government’s broader economic growth plan.

UK inflation rose by 3.4 per cent this month, the same as last month and above the Bank of England target of 2 per cent. At the same time real wage growth is steadily coming down and the cost-of-living remains a challenge for many.

The UK economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in April, with US tariffs and UK tax rises contributory factors. However, over the last quarter up to April the economy grew by 0.7 per cent.

Alongside rising global uncertainty and the introduction of new business-related UK taxes, many businesses continue to have concerns around longer-term issues including high interest rates and energy prices, increased commodity costs, wage pressures, supply-chain constraints, lower consumer confidence and some labour market challenges.

The labour market continues to loosen but wage pressures for businesses remain. Payrolled employees have further declined and are expected to decrease further, at a time when there are fewer job vacancies. More encouragingly, economic inactivity has seen a further decline. Although it is positive that more people are actively looking to engage in the labour market, this comes at a time when businesses are reducing recruitment and making redundancies, therefore it will be more challenging for those looking for work to find work. The need now is to support those seeking work to find employment and support growth.

We need to continue to support those still struggling with the cost-of-living, residents to transition into work and viable businesses to survive and grow.

In Staffordshire we have a confident, diverse, and robust economy, demonstrated by the improvement and recovery witnessed since Covid. As the ongoing global and national socio-economic challenges persist it remains vital that local partners work together to support local businesses and residents. We continue to deliver the Staffordshire Means Business Programme which has helped hundreds of Staffordshire businesses transition to new business models including diversification, digitisation and greenification to improve their viability and sustainability.

We continue to support residents into work and help businesses address ongoing labour shortages and skills gaps to aid survival and growth. A key part of this being the recently established Staffordshire Jobs and Careers Brokerage Service which is designed to match local people, employers, and training providers to fill jobs and provide people with the jobs and careers they need.

Alongside this, skills provision has a significant role to play in ensuring that local residents have the skills and training needed within the local economy to support increased growth, productivity, and prosperity. Reskilling and upskilling residents from declining sectors into priority growth areas of the economy such as digital, green, advanced manufacturing, advanced logistics, construction, and health and social care where they can access higher value better paid jobs will be key.