Life in UK's worst jobs blackspot

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By Fiona Trott BBC Midlands correspondent Birmingham suffers when car sales fall

Jobseekers have been describing their frustrations in Ladywood, a deprived part of Birmingham city with the highest percentage of people looking for work in the UK.

It is a bright spring morning in Ladywood.

On one side of the canal a couple of joggers dodge a restaurant worker hosing down the pavement.

On the other side, a group of people are propped up against a railing watching the runners go past.

They are waiting for the job centre to open and they all look tired.

More people are yet again looking for work here than anywhere else in the UK, according to the latest job figures.

Daunting prospect

But the people in this queue do not care about the statistics. They say today is the same as any other.

"I've lost my home, I've lost my job and somebody's just crashed into the back of my car," said 25-year-old Richard.

He was made redundant just before Christmas and has been looking for a job every day since.

He is not alone. Dave Snowball is going home with a carrier bag full of paperwork. I can't get a loan to get things fixed at home, but even if I did I can't call anybody to come and do the work because they've gone out of business Jonathan Scott <a class="" href="/1/hi/business/7947766.stm">Unemployment passes two million</a>

"I've got a form here for my mortgage," he said.

"They're offering me 60 quid a week but that's no good to me. I'm taking it day by day now."

Most of the people going through these doors are men in their twenties.

They say the only jobs on offer are "high profile", in other words office jobs they are not qualified for, so a few enrolled on an Information Technology (IT) course.

But some will return the following day, hoping that an engineering or construction job will finally be on offer. Other men here in Ladywood have taken a different route.

In an outbuilding two miles away at the North West Skills Academy (NWSA), a group of people are building wooden frames for mock kitchens and bathrooms.

Cultural issues

They are six months into a City and Guilds course teaching them to tile, plaster and decorate.

Alan Linton says it is his only hope of getting a new job.

"I was first made redundant from Land Rover in 2007 and then I started work at Jaguar a few months later, but in June last year I was made redundant from there too," he said.

"I was trying to get back into the car industry, but all you see is people being laid off, so I'm hoping this course will help me through the bad times."

That is why there are four times as many people applying for this course than there are places available.

Since the 1950s, this region has built its economic success on the car industry, so when sales are down the Midlands is hit hard.

Over the past four months, 450 people have lost their job at Jaguar Land Rover and 600 at nearby Aston Martin and it is not just the manufacturers - many local suppliers have gone out of business too.

'Struggled for years'

But at the skills academy, course leader Neil Chapman says there is another reason why Ladywood has the highest number of jobseekers.

"We've struggled for a number of years to realise the potential of a lot of people here," he said.

"There may be language issues and cultural issues and a centre like this tries to meet those needs."

So retraining is key here in the UK's unemployment blackspot. Back at the job centre, some people say that is not enough.

"I'm sick of the government," said Jonathan Scott.

"Whenever I switch on the TV, it's all false promises. Even if I get a job here next week, there's still not enough cash going around.

"I can't get a loan to get things fixed at home, but even if I did I can't call anybody to come and do the work because they've gone out of business."

That is a daunting prospect for this year's graduates from the NWSA, but at the moment they do not have an alternative.