After unemployment in the region dipped 0.1% to 5.5%, East Midlands Chamber has urged policymakers to prioritise greater support for firms as rising fuel prices and likely inflation hikes resulting from the Middle East conflict add to tough trading conditions.
The latest estimated figures from the Office for National Statistics for over 16s in the East Midlands cover the period between December and February 2026.
Research conducted by the Chamber – its Quarterly Economic Survey – revealed less than half of businesses that responded have attempted to recruit staff, only 2 out of 10 plan to increase their workforce and 7 out 10 struggled to find suitable staff.
East Midlands Chamber Director of Policy and Insight Richard Blackmore said: “Unemployment needs to continue falling in the East Midlands, however fuel and energy costs, driven by the Middle East conflict, are piling a massive amount of additional pressure on business, at a time when so many firms were already going through a tough time, as the crisis in the cost of doing business continues to escalate.
“Data from our Quarterly Economic Survey across 2025 was showing hesitant hiring long before the Iran War, while in the first quarter of 2026 less than half the respondents in the survey had attempted to recruit – also from before the conflict. Just this month the first parts of the Employment Rights Act came into force, meaning additional paperwork requirements and associated costs.
“The sheer mountain of challenges businesses are facing cannot be understated. Inflation topped the concerns of firms in the East Midlands in the first quarter of this year, in our research but that data was captured at a time when there was a realistic chance of inflation easing and heading toward the Bank of England’s 2% target. We’re not in that world now – the Middle East conflict is ongoing and economists are generally expecting inflation to go the opposite way, peaking above 3% or even hitting 4% this year. Fuel prices have risen and there’s a credible risk that GDP could stall.
“In extraordinary times like we’re experiencing at the moment, support for business must be top priority. The Chamber’s Framework for Growth was published at the end of 2025 – a paper outlining specific measures across areas like energy relief, infrastructure investment and devolution that, if actioned, would help alleviate pressure on business. When firms are incentivised to invest, hiring intention increases. At the same time, addressing the skills gap, as set out in the Framework for Growth and making apprenticeships more accessible, would provide employers with a more suited talent pool and help unemployment fall faster.”
View East Midlands Chamber’s Framework for Growth here
View East Midlands Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey, Q1 2026, here
