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Birmingham Economic Profile

Updated: August 2007

The Economic Profile is a set of publications from Birmingham Economy that seeks to provide context and analysis about the local economy in a more accessible format than our annual Economic Review & Prospects.

The Economic Profile is divided into five modules. It is our intention to update these modules whenever new developments require this, and to add further modules when appropriate.

The report covers the following issues.

Module 1: Economic Context
This briefly sets Birmingham's economy within its historical, geographical, international and national context by combining maps with key local facts and economic trends.

Module 2: Economic Prospects
This sets out our latest economic forecasts for Birmingham using the Local Economic Forecasting Model (LEFM). Three forecasting scenarios are presented that take account of the effects of current and planned development investment in Birmingham. These local forecasts are compared to the LEFM's economic forecasts for the wider Region and UK.

Module 3: Economic Performance Indicators
Using 18 key economic performance indicators this module assesses how well the Birmingham economy has been performing against those of the wider Region and UK.

Module 4: Ten Major Drivers of Change
In this module we explain ten "major drivers of change" that our analysis tells us will be shaping the Birmingham economy in future years. Generally, these drivers of change pose challenges that have to be successfully managed by Birmingham. In explaining our "drivers" we have taken a narrative approach with almost no numerical content.

Module 5: Challenges and Risks
Here we explain 13 challenges or risks that have to be successfully solved if Birmingham's economy is to enjoy future prosperity. This is an experimental section of the Economic Profile that also allows readers to participate in assessing priorities for action in regenerating Birmingham's economy. A link to a questionnaire is provided that allows readers to give their own assessment about how much danger each challenge/risk poses to the local economy – and the time scale required to solve each one.