# Employment rate: highest and lowest councils in West Midlands (March 2026)

East Staffordshire had the highest employment rate of West Midlands’s 30 councils in March 2026, at 85.2%.

Sandwell had the lowest, at 64.6%. The middle council, Telford and Wrekin, had 77.7%.

| Rank | Area | Employment rate | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [East Staffordshire](https://openindex.co.uk/east-staffordshire) | 85.2% | – |
| 2 | [Wychavon](https://openindex.co.uk/wychavon) | 84.2% | – |
| 3 | [Warwick](https://openindex.co.uk/warwick) | 83.4% | – |
| 4 | [Cannock Chase](https://openindex.co.uk/cannock-chase) | 82.3% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 5 | [Herefordshire](https://openindex.co.uk/herefordshire) | 82.1% | – |
| 6 | [Stafford](https://openindex.co.uk/stafford) | 80.9% | – |
| 7 | [Bromsgrove](https://openindex.co.uk/bromsgrove) | 80.5% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 8 | [South Staffordshire](https://openindex.co.uk/south-staffordshire) | 80.3% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 9 | [Lichfield](https://openindex.co.uk/lichfield) | 80.1% | – |
| 10 | [Nuneaton and Bedworth](https://openindex.co.uk/nuneaton-and-bedworth) | 79.5% | – |
| 11 | [Shropshire](https://openindex.co.uk/shropshire) | 79.3% | – |
| 12 | [Tamworth](https://openindex.co.uk/tamworth) | 79.2% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 13 | [Rugby](https://openindex.co.uk/rugby) | 78.8% | – |
| 14 | [Stratford-on-Avon](https://openindex.co.uk/stratford-on-avon) | 78.2% | – |
| 15 | [Telford and Wrekin](https://openindex.co.uk/telford-and-wrekin) | 77.7% | – |
| 16 | [Malvern Hills](https://openindex.co.uk/malvern-hills) | 75.9% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 17 | [Redditch](https://openindex.co.uk/redditch) | 75.7% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| =18 | [Dudley](https://openindex.co.uk/dudley) | 75.6% | – |
| =18 | [Solihull](https://openindex.co.uk/solihull) | 75.6% | – |
| =18 | [Worcester](https://openindex.co.uk/worcester) | 75.6% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 21 | [Stoke-on-Trent](https://openindex.co.uk/stoke-on-trent) | 74.5% | – |
| 22 | [Wyre Forest](https://openindex.co.uk/wyre-forest) | 72.6% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 23 | [Coventry](https://openindex.co.uk/coventry) | 71.7% | – |
| 24 | [Staffordshire Moorlands](https://openindex.co.uk/staffordshire-moorlands) | 70.9% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 25 | [Wolverhampton](https://openindex.co.uk/wolverhampton) | 69.8% | – |
| 26 | [North Warwickshire](https://openindex.co.uk/north-warwickshire) | 69.1% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 27 | [Newcastle-under-Lyme](https://openindex.co.uk/newcastle-under-lyme) | 69.0% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 28 | [Walsall](https://openindex.co.uk/walsall) | 68.1% | – |
| 29 | [Birmingham](https://openindex.co.uk/birmingham) | 66.8% | – |
| 30 | [Sandwell](https://openindex.co.uk/sandwell) | 64.6% | – |

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS population survey. Covers Great Britain. Period: March 2026. Period: March 2026.

## Other rankings of this measure

- [Great Britain](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/uk)
- [England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/england)
- [Scotland](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/scotland)
- [Wales](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/wales)
- [North East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-east)
- [North West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-west)
- [Yorkshire and The Humber](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/yorkshire-and-the-humber)
- [East Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-midlands)
- [East of England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-of-england)
- [London](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/london)
- [South East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-east)
- [South West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-west)

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/employment)
- [Source and method](https://openindex.co.uk/sources/employment)

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/west-midlands.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

Snapshot 2026.10.11. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/west-midlands