I grew up in the Black Country; I went to school here and, as a teenager, like many of my friends I had my first job here working evenings and weekends in a corner shop. My brother lived the same experience – getting a start in life by working part-time at a clothes shop. It taught us responsibility, confidence and the importance of a payslip. It gave us something to put on our CVs and was an important building block for our future careers.
Almost twenty years later, both of those shops have closed, and the retail units that housed them sit empty. No young person has the opportunity to gain any sort of work experience there today.
Earlier this year, the Milburn Report published the alarming statistic that 21.5% of young people in the Dudley Borough are NEET or otherwise unaccounted for – far outstripping the national average. This statistic is partly explained by poor record-keeping on the part of Dudley’s council, but concern remains.
Too many of the Black Country’s young people are struggling to find work.
Yes, its traditional high streets have declined; and finding your first job is no longer as straightforward as presenting at Woolworths, Wilko or Debenhams with a firm handshake and a copy of your CV. But the Black Country still contains big opportunities for job-seeking young people.
There is still deep respect here for technical skills and the industries that built the Black Country over one hundred years ago. The region’s burgeoning advanced manufacturing sector accounts for almost one-in-seven employee jobs (a share around 50% higher than the national average) [1] and that’s before you consider supporting roles in logistics, storage, etc.. The Black Country’s large and diverse young population has plenty to offer in return.
So, where’s the problem? Opportunity in the Black Country can be almost as inaccessible to young jobseekers as those shuttered shops.
Despite its strong identity, the Black Country has no clear economic centre. Its 1.2 million inhabitants live across a network of small towns.
The contrast to neighbouring Birmingham couldn’t be starker. Its clearly defined city centre houses three public universities[2], two major colleges, and the region’s expanding professional services industry. It is served by three railway stations, the Midland Metro tramway, and numerous bus routes. If young Brummies want office work, they know where to look for it.
There is no equivalent in the Black Country. Where should a young person looking to get a start in the engineering sector search for jobs? In Coven, Cradley Heath or Walsall? I haven’t named these three towns at random – they are home to three of the Black Country’s (and the wider region’s) most important engineering firms – Moog Aerospace, Westley Group and Babcock. Other major firms can be found in Oldbury, Smethwick, Great Bridge, Willenhall and Aldridge…
For a young person living in Dudley, reaching some of these dispersed employment sites by public transport can mean a lengthy, multi-stage journey[3]. That is an important factor for a young person without their own car, and a significant barrier for someone who has never worked before.
Finding a workplace and transporting yourself to it is only part of the problem. Identifying and applying for a vacancy at that workplace can present a challenge.
Major firms advertise vacancies online on the careers pages of their websites. But smaller firms do not always recruit in the same way. Vacancies can also travel through informal networks, word of mouth, existing employees, friends and families. There is at least one longstanding engineering firm in the Black Country that has proudly employed five generations (and counting) of the same family over its long history. This commitment to investing in people, their families and their immediate communities is something to be celebrated; but what if your family doesn’t have those connections?
The Black Country’s distinctive geography demands Black Country solutions.
It is right that public policy places emphasis on apprenticeships and degrees. It’s also important that we don’t miss the basics – employers need to be motivated to open themselves up to young people, those young people need to be able to find the vacancies and ultimately get themselves to work on time for the start of their first working day.
It’s clear that young people need our support.
Alongside the loss of many youth centres, the old Black Country-wide Connexions structure disappeared amid the reforms of 2010–12. Black Country Connexions, an organisation literally designed to help young people make connections across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton was dissolved in 2011.
Schools, colleges and the four councils took greater responsibility for careers guidance with varying degrees of success[4]. If we are serious about helping young people, we must again work together to present a joined-up careers offer which reflects the Black Country’s polycentric nature.
Businesses in the Black Country want to invest in the next generation of talent; we must mobilise employers to meet young people where they are.
A well-coordinated and well-funded careers service can organise job fairs in locations where young people already congregate – not just in formal settings such as schools and colleges, but in informal settings such as shopping centres, sports clubs and five-a-side football centres.
There are already sterling examples of this being done successfully at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Brierley Hill and at the Cornbow Shopping Centre in Halesowen.
The WMCA is now one of eight areas testing the Government’s Youth Guarantee, which aims to ensure that every 18–21-year-old can access education, training or support into employment or an apprenticeship.
The WMCA is already testing many of the interventions that are needed including subsidised work experience and better support through the transition into work.
Can it now provide the connective tissue that the Black Country requires? Not just creating work-experience placements and apprenticeships but making sure young people can see them, reach them and imagine themselves doing them. Can it bring more businesses in the private sector to jobs fairs?
The creation of an apprenticeship on an industrial estate outside Aldridge isn’t much of a win for a teenager in Dudley if they can’t get there in time for the start of an 8am shift.
Twenty years ago, my brother and I were lucky. Our first opportunities were visible, local and accessible. We cannot recreate the labour market of twenty years ago, nor should we try. But we can recreate that ease of connection. The jobs, skills and young people are still here – our task is to connect them.
[1] The Economic Intelligence Unit; Black Country Annual Economic Review 2024
[2] Aston University, Birmingham City University and University College Birmingham; plus smaller specialist institutions and satellite campuses.
[3] For example, a young person living in Dudley securing a job at Babcock would need to catch the No.11 bus from Dudley to Walsall (41 stops), then the No.70A bus to Babcock’s premises (a short hop at 4 stops) taking an estimated 1 hour 14 minutes (plus any time taken to get from home to Dudley bus station) in order to arrive by 8.30am on a typical Monday.
[4] See above, Dudley Council’s difficulty keeping track of its young people
This is a personal blog post. Any opinions, findings, and conclusion or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Centre for the New Midlands or any of our associated organisations/individuals.
ABOUT OUR AUTHOR:
Matthew Collins is a solicitor, public-sector leader and member of the Centre for the New Midlands’ Education and Skills Leadership Board.
Born and raised in the Black Country, he has held senior legal and governance roles in higher education and local government. He currently works as a political advisor to the Labour Party and is also a visiting law lecturer, and a governor at Dudley College. His interests include education and skills, regional development and creating better opportunities for young people across the Black Country.
