Latest South West Regional Economic Indicators - June 2010

Manufacturing investment, tables 8-10

• In 2007, foreign owned companies spent £409m on manufacturing investments in the South West, a decrease of 8.0% on the previous year as opposed to a 3.0% increase nationally.

• Manufacturing Gross Value Added (GVA) by foreign owned companies, however, increased by 13.0% on the previous year in the South West, higher than the national increase of 9.2%.

• When looking at manufacturing investment by UK-owned companies in the South West, spending increased by 14.2% in 2007 over the previous year, higher than the increase of UK average (9.4%).  This means an overall increase in manufacturing investment from all companies of 3.8% (7% UK).

Exports, tables 12-15

• The total value of exports from the South West was £3.2bn in the first quarter of 2010. This is an increase of 12.5% on the same quarter of the previous year and a 21.5% increase on the previous quarter, higher than the corresponding UK figures of 11.1% and -1.8%, respectively.

• As a result, the regional share of UK exports has increased by one percentage point over the previous quarter.  This is quite a swing and may not reflect reality – an apparent anomaly in the underlying figures is currently being investigated.

• The European Union remains the main destination for SW exports (54.2%) followed by ‘North America’ (15.4%) and ‘Asia and Oceania’ (15.2%).

Labour market, tables 20-28

• The employment rate continues to fall both in the United Kingdom and SW England where in Q1 2010 the rate was 72.0% and 75.0%, respectively. When compared to the start of the recession, the rate has dropped by 3.8 percentage points (pp) in the South West, higher than a 2.4 pp decrease nationally.  Nonetheless, SW employment is still the third highest of the 12 regions and countries in the United Kingdom.

• The unemployment rate stood at 6.3% in the first quarter of 2010, a second consecutive quarterly decline. This was mainly due to people dropping out of the labour market, i.e. the economic activity rate has also fallen, rather than successfully gaining employment. Nationally, the unemployment rate continues to increase (8.0%).

• Fewer people are claiming benefits than one year ago - in May 2010, 2.7% of the working age population claimed unemployment-related benefits - the lowest rate since January 2009.

Population estimates, summary indicators table

• ONS has published the latest population estimates for mid-2009 which showed growth of 7.2% in the ten year period 1999-2009 in SW England, higher than the growth of 5.3% for the United Kingdom over the same period.

• The population in the South West was estimated to be 5.2 million in mid-2009, an increase of 20,900 people (or 0.4%) on the previous year (UK 0.6%). Of that change, 76.1% was attributed to ‘net migration and other changes’ - third highest after Scotland (82.0%) and the North East (78.7%) - and just under a quarter (23.9%) due to natural change (births-deaths), a somewhat different split from the UK average (45.0% and 55.0%, respectively).

Housing market

• The average house price in the South West was £239,290 in the first quarter of 2010, a 5.7% increase on the previous quarter. This compares to the UK average £253,391, an increase of 7.8%.