South West

1
South West Regional Employment and Skills
AnalysisChris Evans, Director,
SLIMConvergence ESF Frameworks Workshop21
October 2009
2
Introduction

• Regional Employment and Skills Analysis 2010 to
  underpin
• ESF Frameworks refresh
• RESP priorities
• Regional Skills Strategy
• Single Regional Strategy

3
Scope

• The analysis examines
• The regions current and future employment and
  skills needs
• Recommendations for priority setting.
• The analysis provides
• A review of the changing policy and economic
  context facing the region
• A review of employment trends and issues,
  particularly in light of the recession
• A review of the skills agenda from 14-19 through
  to the adult workforce
• A review of all skill/qualification levels (from
  basic skills to higher level skills)
• A detailed analysis of sectors.

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Themes from 2007 Analysis

• Productivity to ensure that SW businesses have
  access to the right skills and business practices
  to improve their productivity.
• Progression to ensure the availability of
  effective routes for progression to enable people
  to maximise their potential within the workforce,
  addressing issues of equality and diversity.
• Sustainability to ensure that the development
  of the region is sustainable, maximizing the
  impact of the public resources that are deployed,
  encouraging investment by individuals and
  businesses, and planning for the future.

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Themes

• Innovation / Low carbon skills
• Skills for Business (private sector)
• Recession recovery
• Equality and diversity

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Skills for Innovation

• Innovation Nation notes that innovation and
  skills are inextricably linked. A higher skilled
  and more expert workforce is more likely to be
  able to generate new ideas and to introduce and
  adapt to new technology and organisational
  change.
• Skills are required for innovation and its
  exploitation. Research shows a clear
  relationship between the skill levels of the
  workforce and the extent to which firms are
  innovative. These skills include, STEM skills,
  technical skills, leadership and management skill
  as well as a range of softer skills which
  encourage knowledge sharing, communication and
  creativity.

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STEM Skills

• Around 35 of employment is in STEM dependent
  sectors in the SW and this is set to grow.
• Region performs well but significant scope for
  improvement.
• Critical sectors - 10 Sector Skills Councils
  (SSCs) which represent STEM sectors Cogent
  (chemicals and pharmaceuticals, nuclear, oil and
  gas, petroleum and polymers) Construction
  Skills Energy and Utility Skills E-Skills
  (information technology and telecommunications)
  Financial Services Skills Improve Ltd (food and
  drink manufacturing and processing) Proskills
  (process and manufacturing in the building
  products, coatings, glass, printing, extractive
  and mineral processing industries) SEMTA
  (science, engineering and manufacturing
  technologies) Skillfast (fashion and textiles)
  Skills for Health.

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Low Carbon Skills

• Low Carbon Industrial Strategy
• New Industry New Jobs Sectors low carbon
  advanced manufacturing life sciences digital
  economy and creative industries business and
  professional services the care sector the
  retail sector and tourism, hospitality and
  leisure sectors
• Low Carbon Economic Areas - the first Low Carbon
  Economic Area will be located in South West
  England, and it will focus on the development of
  marine energy demonstration, servicing and
  manufacture.
• SW Region Green Recovery Priorities
• Domestic energy efficiency
• Business resource efficiency
• Marine energy technologies
• New nuclear build
• Community based renewables
• Environmental business sector support
• Sustainable procurement
• Low carbon vehicles

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Low Carbon Skills

• Design Skills    
• Waste Skills     
• Energy Skills      
• Water Skills 
• Buildings Skills
• Source PRO ENVIRO FOR DEFRA SKILLS
  FOR A LOW CARBON AND RESOURCE EFFICIENT ECONOMY   

• Transport Skills   
• Materials Skills  
• Financial Skills    
• Management Skills     
• Policy and Planning Skills

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Skills for Business

• Employability Skills
• Leadership and Management
• Skill Levels

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Current employment patterns in SW
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Employment structurein Cornwall

• Cornwalls industrial composition varies quite
  substantially from South West England as a whole.
  
• Business services which only contribute 17.3 of
  Cornwalls total GVA (compared to 31.8 for the
  region).
• Production also plays less of a role in the
  Cornish economy. Highest contribution towards
  total GVA comes from public administration,
  education, health and other service industries
  29.2 compared to 25.3 for South West England as
  a whole.
• The county had the lowest regional percentage of
  businesses in finance and property and business
  service industries (18.9 against a regional
  average of 29.4).
• VAT registered businesses - reliant on
  lower-growth sectors.
• This relative structure explains some of the
  comparative productivity patterns

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Sectors of employment 2007-2017
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Net requirements by occupation 2007 - 2017
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Skills vs productivity
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Employability Skills

• Employers are increasingly seeking generic skills
  alongside technical skills as a means of
  developing a workforce that is able to cope with
  increasingly complex work practices, team
  working, reduced supervision, greater job
  flexibility and rotation, and increased
  interaction with consumers.
• Research has identified substantial wage returns
  associated with a range of generic/employability
  skills e.g. people with computing skills could
  command wage premiums of around 13 more than
  those without such skills. Professional
  communication and problem solving skills also
  secured higher wage returns.
• A recent report from the CBI claims that many
  employers now operate a 20/80 rule within the
  recruitment and selection process, in favour of
  soft and generic skills(CBI, 2007).
• A survey by the Learning and Skills Network found
  that employers dont expect the finished
  article, but they do expect candidates to at
  least be enthusiastic, literate, numerate and
  able to turn up on time. Literacy,
  communication skills, numeracy and enthusiasm are
  the most important employability skills in the
  view of respondents, and a lack of them in a
  candidate is a deal-breaker for many
  employers.

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Leadership and Management

• Top issue in survey of Sector Skills Councils.
• Critical issue in improving the application of
  skills within the workforce and raising the
  demand for skills overall.
• Comparisons on competitiveness of UK business
  shows that UK companies under invest in
  leadership and management and that this is the
  key factor in relatively lower business
  performance.
• Better managed firms have a more highly educated
  workforce amongst both managers and non managers
  alike.
• Last National Employer Skills Survey showed that
  6000 leaders and managers in the region had
  skills gaps.

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of population with Level 2 skills
19
of population with Level 4 skills
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Literacy - Leitch target of 95 by 2020

• Available data shows that the LAs with the lowest
  attainment rates for literacy (in 2003) are
• Penwith (87)
• South Somerset (88)
• North Cornwall (88)
• Torbay (89)
• Restormel (89)
• Torridge (89)

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Numeracy - Leitch target of 95 by 2020

• Available data shows that the LAs with the lowest
  attainment rates for numeracy (in 2003) are
• Restormel (75)
• North Cornwall (76)
• Penwith (76)
• Bristol (77)
• Plymouth (77)
• Swindon (78)
• Torbay (78)

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Level 2 - Leitch Target of 90 by 2020

• Available data shows that the LAs with the lowest
  attainment rates for NVQ Level 2 equivalence or
  higher are
• Torridge (55.2)
• North Cornwall (59.9)
• Swindon (64.2)
• Weymouth and Portland (66.3)
• Kerrier (66.3)
• Plymouth (66.6)
• Sedgemoor (66.6)
• Restormel (68.3)
• Caradon (68.5)
• Bristol (69.1)
• Poole (69.9)

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Level 3 - Leitch Intermediate Target of 56 by
2011

• Available data shows that the LAs with the lowest
  attainment rates for NVQ Level 3 equivalence or
  higher are
• Torridge (36.8)
• North Cornwall (38.4)
• East Devon (41.5)
• Swindon (41.6)
• Gloucester (42.0)
• Weymouth and Portland (42.3)
• Kerrier (42.6)
• Torbay (45.1)
• Sedgemoor (45.1)
• West Wiltshire (45.4)
• Plymouth (45.6)

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Level 4 Leitch target of 40 by 2020

• Available data shows that the LAs with the lowest
  attainment rates for NVQ Level 4 equivalence or
  higher are
• Torridge (16.0)
• North Cornwall (17.0)
• Kerrier (18.9)
• South Somerset (20.0)
• East Devon (20.7)
• Weymouth and Portland (21.5)
• Plymouth (22.1)
• Torbay (22.2)
• Gloucester (23.0)
• Swindon (23.3)
• Purbeck (23.3)
• Sedgemoor (24.8)
• Restormel (24.8)

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Recession and recovery
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Redundancies Aug 08 to Sept 09
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Vacancies
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Claimants per vacancy
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LFS Unemployment and Claimant Count
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Claimant Count

• Proportionate rise in claimant count 175
• Just over 1 of working age population added to
  claimant count
• 8000 claimants

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Claimant count by age band
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NEETS
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Prospects for recovery

• Looking to the future the Economy Module has
  advised that
• many South West firms need to reshape their
  businesses for a period of relatively subdued
  growth.
• continued household debt is expected to limit
  discretionary spending across the regions main
  areas of domestic expenditure, particularly
  tourism and leisure.
• almost all of the business surveys note that the
  vast majority of businesses do not intend to
  significantly invest in their capacity in the
  coming 12 months.
• whilst productivity may bounce back strongly from
  the downturn, capital investment is expected to
  be constrained for some time and unlikely to be a
  source of significant development.

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Prospects for recovery

• Prospects for the Cornish Towns and the northern
  part of the peninsula, from Cornwall through
  Devon and into Somerset are more difficult to
  assess. The EU investment available to Cornwall
  may assist with efforts towards recovery.
  Disadvantages of access to markets and
  fundamental capacity will be problematic. Whilst
  new energy initiatives may help these areas, but
  such major capital effects from renewables,
  including nuclear power, wave energy and any
  tidal initiatives in the Severn estuary can not
  be relied on to produce real growth for some
  years.

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Equality and diversity

• Despite recession, South West has one of the
  highest employment rate in England
• Employment rate is not uniform across the region
  nor across different groups in society
• Range of causes and barriers which mean that some
  areas and some individuals are more likely to be
  workless
• Skills is strong linked to employment and is also
  not all groups have same access to skills

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Employment rate by sub region
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Employment rate change by sub region
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Employment rate by disadvantage group

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Disadvantaged groups
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Access to skills

• Women - Regional level statistics show that the
  same proportions of men and women do not have
  qualifications although women are marginally more
  likely than men to have a degree level
  qualification. Women in the South West were also
  slightly more likely than men to have undertaken
  any learning in the last 12 months.
• Disability - People with a disability are less
  likely than those without a disability to have
  minimum standards in literacy and numeracy.
  Disabled people aged between 24 to 44 are half as
  likely to have a degree level qualification.
  One-fifth (19) of disabled people aged 24 to 44,
  and almost one-third (29) of disabled people
  aged 45 to 64 do not have any qualifications at
  all.

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Disability

• Moving to inclusion

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of working age population with no
qualifications
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Working age population over 50