Swindon & Wiltshire LEP (Economic Profile)

Coverage

• Swindon, Wiltshire.

Quick Statistics

• The Local Enterprise Partnership covers an area with a workforce of 325,000 representing 1.3% of the national total. The area supports 23,495 businesses.
  

Visions & Aims

• To effectively meet local economic challenges by: addressing the impact of globalisation and the increasing competitive pressure that brings on the local business base
  • ameliorating the impact of a smaller public sector - spending and job losses
  • tackle specific issues of geography relevant to the area including the need for infrastructure investment to support economic growth and improve broadband connectivity
  • maintaining sustainable communities – urban and rural
  • driving up the skill levels of our workforce
  • improving access to Higher Education
  • tackling youth unemployment

  An Economic Snapshot

• According to the latest data, in 2009 the Gross Value Added of the Swindon & Wiltshire LEP area economy was £13.7bn.  This constituted 14% of regional economic output. The GVA of the area fell by 1.8% between 2008 & 2009. This shows that the area – particularly the urban Swindon economy - was marginally better able to withstand the early effect of the recession (compared to a regional decline of 1.9%) – although this data has latterly been prone to revisions. Total output in Wiltshire declined annually by 3%.

• The GVA per head at current basic prices in 2009 for Swindon was £27,616, representing a fall of 1.5% from 2008.  The GVA per head for Wiltshire was £17,492, a relatively substantial annual fall of 3.4%. The lower figure in the more rural areas reflects that this is a workplace measurement – most rural areas tend to suffer on this measurement as wealth ‘flows out’ in the form of commuting.

• Relatively, Swindon continues to out-perform both areas outperform the UK average on this measurement – it is 138.1% of the UK average. In comparison, Wiltshire is 87.5% - a marginal deterioration in its relative position.

• What is notable about the Swindon economy in terms of sector output is the relatively small role of the public sector (only 12.3% of GVA) and relatively large production (inc. manufacturing) sector – 25% of GVA.  The public sector is much smaller than in most other parts of the region. In contrast, the public sector is larger in Wiltshire (20.8%) with manufacturing commensurately smaller (12.6%). Of particular note is the significant decline in the output for the real estate sector in Wiltshire, declining by 16.5% between 2008 & 2009. This highlights the local adjustment that has taken place as a consequence of the housing market downturn since 2008.

• The average (median) annual gross earnings for residents in 2011 were – Swindon (£22,494) and Wiltshire (£20,663). Generally, earnings have held up relatively well – with small increases experienced between 2008 & 2009, contrary to much of the region
  

• There were a total of 10,336 claimants in the area in December 2011, 2.5% of the working age population.  The ILO defined unemployment measurement is higher at 5.9%.
  

• As with elsewhere, long-term unemployment remains an issue.  11.8% (1,250) of all claimants have been claiming for over 12 months whilst 30.9% have been claiming for more than 6 months - a significant increase from 20.5% in June 2008.

• In 2010, there were 2,460 business births in the LEP area, an annual increase of 5.8%. There were 2,960 business deaths in the same year – an increase of 8.2%.

• As a consequence of excess of business deaths over births, there were 25,685 active enterprises in the LEP area at the end of 2010, an annual fall of 1.1%. Just under half of enterprises starting in 2005 were still trading in 2010. Approximately 20-25% firms started in 2008 had ceased trading by 2010, with survival rates marginally higher in Wiltshire.