Confidence slumps in West Midlands
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.CONFIDENCE among businesses in the West Midlands has slumped, with companies reporting a sharp decline in orders and exports, and unemployment forecast to worsen in the next three months.
According to the latest quarterly economic survey from the region's chambers of commerce, companies have also become more gloomy about investing, while the proportion of businesses working below capacity has risen.
The September survey, carried out immediately prior to the sterling crisis and covering 453 firms, is one of the gloomiest yet and shows that confidence, orders and deliveries have all nose-dived since July.
A quarter of firms expect to cut their workforce in the next three months, nearly half reported that home orders were down compared with three months ago and 38 per cent said export orders were also down, compared with 25 per cent in July.
Andrew Millward, chairman of the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce, said: 'What all businesses now need is a period of calm and reassurance that the Government has a consistent economic policy that will positively aid recovery.'
Demand for credit showed the biggest year-on-year decline in August, according to the credit information group Infolink. Car loan applications fell 13 per cent.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments