age, below the city average of 59.8%. The ward had an unemployment rate of 8.1%, below the city rate of 9.5% but above the national rate of 5%. Of the unemployed, 40% were in long term unemployment, above the city average of 36.3%. 8.2% had never worked. 16.8% of those in employment worked in the Finance, Real Estate, & Business Activities sector. 16.2% worked in the Manufacturing sector. The largest employer based in the area is Cleaning Contractor Services Group Ltd, employing around 300 people. Moss Construction were the second largest, employing 285 people. 99.1% of the population lived in a household, above the city average of 98.3%. The other 0.9% lived in communal establishments. The total number of occupied households in the ward was 10,049, resulting in an average of 2.3 people per household. This is below the national average of 2.4 and the city average of 2.5. 62.4% of the households were owner occupied, above the city average of 60.4% and below the national average of 68.7%. 26% of households were rented from Birmingham City Council, above the city average of 19.4%. The majority of houses were semi-detached, with 42.2% of all properties being of that type. 25.1% of households were terraced houses, near to the national average of 25.8%. 21.1% were purpose built blocks of flats. 338 houses were identified as being empty. Politics The ward has been a Labour/Conservative marginal for the last 20 years. Local councillors have included: Steve McCabe (also the Member of Parliament for Hall Green Constituency until 2010), Roy Pinney, who served as Chair of and later Cabinet Member for Education, in addition to three female councillors, the last of these being Catherine Grundy, who lost her seat in 2004 and was subsequently elected to the Kingstanding ward in 2006. Elections since 1984 have returned the following councillors: 1984: Len Gregory (Con) (defeated 1988) 1986: Bob Tyler (Con) (defeated 1990) 1987: John Lena (Con) (did not seek re-election 1991) 1988: Jane Slowey (Lab) (defeated 1992) 1990: Steve McCabe (Lab) (re-elected 1994) 1991: John Trojnacki (Con) (defeated 1995) 1992: Graeme Coombes (Con) (did not seek re-election 1996) 1994: Steve McCabe (Lab) (did not seek re-election 1998) 1995: Roy Pinney (Lab) (re-elected 1999) 1996: Fiona Williams (Lab) (defeated 2000) 1998: Catherine Grundy (Lab) (re-elected 2002) 1999: Roy Pinney (Lab) (defeated 2003) 2000: Mark Hill (Con) (re-elected 2004) 2002: Catherine Grundy (Lab) (defeated 2004) 2003: