Birmingham's future - and why it should worry you - video Dailymotion

National World - LocalTV

Birmingham’s economy has shifted from manufacturing to low-paid services – and now even those jobs are under pressure. With high youth unemployment and economic inactivity, experts warn the city risks a hollowed-out future unless skills, investment, and opportunity are shared more widely.

Transcript

00:00The big question is what kind of Birmingham our children will inherit?

00:04A city with thriving, well-paid careers in tech, engineering and science,

00:08or one where the jobs left are insecure, low-paid and shrinking?

00:13Manufacturing here has collapsed from around 40% of jobs to less than 10%,

00:18with much of what replaced it offering lower wages and less security.

00:23I've been speaking to Dr Steve McCabe, an economic expert,

00:26who studied Birmingham's industrial and employment trends for decades

00:31to understand how deep the risks run.

00:33So retailing no longer has the secure jobs it once did, a lot of pop-up shops.

00:41What you also see in Birmingham City Centre is a lot of people riding around on mobile bikes,

00:46which of course put bikes off mobile by nature, but delivering food.

00:51Now these are all sort of low-paid, insecure jobs,

00:54which they don't provide, if you like, a very good future for those involved.

01:00It's a cyclical thing, and of course the question is, will it get any better?

01:04I don't think so.

01:05Birmingham's economic inactivity is among the highest in the country.

01:09Around 30% of working-age adults aren't in work or looking for it.

01:13Youth unemployment often sits between 15% and 20%,

01:17meaning a generation is missing out on career starts and income

01:20at the very time they should be building their futures.

01:23I asked Dr. McCabe how much of this comes down to the cities at SkillsGap

01:28and whether we're equipping people for the jobs Birmingham needs to grow.

01:32Most particularly, I think what's going to happen is that maybe the knowledge-based jobs

01:37may disappear or the demand for them will decline,

01:40but the jobs where people are required to use their hands on,

01:43thinking most particularly about construction,

01:46that may increase because, of course, there's no doubt

01:48we do need to revitalise the city and we need to rebuild.

01:51And indeed, perhaps we need to look at higher education, of which I used to be involved.

01:56Do we need the number of graduates that we're producing

01:59who don't go into graduate-level employment?

02:02City leaders point to high chest to new office towers and global events

02:06as proof Birmingham is on the up.

02:08But for many areas, the reality is high poverty,

02:11boarded-up shops and jobs that barely cover the bills.

02:14Even the service sector is straining,

02:16with two Wetherspoons pubs closing recently.

02:20I wanted to know whether the gloss versus ground reality gap is getting wider

02:24and what's driving the divide between the city centre and the outer districts.

02:28Yeah, you can see the high street is in decline

02:32and, of course, it's now been concentrated into smaller and smaller areas

02:35and the difficulty is that I don't think there are enough coffee shops

02:39that are going to open to fill those spaces.

02:41And, of course, once you get into that decline,

02:43it's like a vortex.

02:45It sucks everything down and, of course, it undermines confidence,

02:49which, of course, is crucial.

02:50And, indeed, the mood music from business and commerce

02:54is that they're not very confident about the short-to-medium term.

Birmingham's future - and why it should worry you

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