FOI reference: FOI-2025-2708
You asked
Please provide:
employment rates
unemployment rates
return-to-work trends following a mental health-related absence
sickness absence rates due to mental health
Time frame: between January 2023 to present
Broken down where possible daily, by ethnicity, and by Middle Super Output Area in Birmingham (or alternative indication of geographical location in Birmingham).
We said
Thank you for your query regarding the labour market in Birmingham.
We produce labour market estimates for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS), based on interviews with people resident in households in the UK.
As an annual survey, the APS produces estimates for 12-month periods, so we do not hold a daily breakdown of the information you have requested.
Due to small sample sizes, we do not create estimates for geographies as granular as Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) level from the survey. In the case of Birmingham, Parliamentary Constituencies are the most detailed geographic breakdown we hold.
The survey measures employment and unemployment rates, however we do not create estimates of sickness absence rates at a local level, or changes in employment status for those with specific health conditions. We therefore do not hold the requested breakdowns of return-to-work trends following and mental-health-related absence or sickness absence rates.
We do produce estimates of the numbers aged 16 and over in employment, unemployed or economically inactive by a broad breakdown of health conditions including those with depression, learning problems, mental problems of nervous disorders.
The associated download, Annual Population Survey - employment and unemployment in Birmingham, includes estimates of the employment and unemployment rate for Birmingham and Parliamentary Constituencies within Birmingham for periods from April 2022-March 2023 until October 2023-September 2024. Also, aged 16 and over with mental health conditions in employment, unemployed or economically inactive.
The associated download Annual Population Survey - employment and unemployment by ethnicity in Birmingham shows employment and unemployment data for Birmingham by ethnicity.
The estimates have all been taken from our Nomis website, where we publish a range of local statistics, particularly pertaining to the labour market.