About the region
The West Midlands region is situated in the heart of England and covers an area of 12,998 sq. km from Stoke-on-Trent in the north to Hereford and Evesham in the south, from Shrewsbury in the west to Rugby and Burton-on-Trent in the east. There are several large cities and towns in the region, including Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.
The West Midlands region accounts for a population of 5.37 million (9% of the UK total).
More than half of the region’s population live in large conurbation areas, while over 2 million reside in the region’s rural counties, which cover three-quarters of the region.
The West Midlands is home to five Areas of Outstanding Beauty and part of the Peak District National Park. It offers diverse cultural experiences that include the Ironbridge World Heritage Site in Shropshire and the unique assets of Shakespeare Country in Warwickshire.
Despite a recent decline, manufacturing remains an important element in the economy, accounting for 20.4% of all regional employment. The service sector has expanded; increasing by over 250,000 jobs and now represents nearly 70% of the region’s employment. The West Midlands is a major exporting region, accounting for approximately 8% of the national total by value. It has also proved successful in attracting foreign direct investment – attracting nearly 2000 overseas companies to set up facilities there, with the main centres being Birmingham, Coventry and Telford.
The healthcare sector across the West Midlands is very large, employing approximately 9% of the total UK healthcare workforce and provides healthcare services to all residents in the region.
The West Midlands is involved in work around a number of preventable health problems of both regional and national concern including obesity, smoking, exposure to second hand smoke, perinatal mortality and male life expectancy.
Projects
Skills for Health is involved in a range of initiatives, including:
- Working with University Hospital North Staffordshire on a number of integrated projects to adopt a proactive approach to the use of the careers framework and competences. Also to pilot and review a new entry level role and embed competence based skills development
- Supporting the development of a trust wide electronic induction programme and the implementation of an administration academy within University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire
- A joint project with the West Midlands Strategic Health Authorities (SHA) to contribute to the development and delivery of the workforce development strategy, providing a means of demonstrating and testing the contribution of the Sector Skills Council (SSC) intellectual property, products and services towards achieving the SHA’s strategic objectives
To read the full Labour Market Intelligence report on the region click
here .
