PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

As 2007 comes to an end, it is time to reflect on what has been an interesting twelve months for the Welsh economy. On the one hand, we have seen economic statistics which have yet again cemented our position at the bottom of the prosperity league table. Only two weeks ago, we found out that Wales now has its lowest ever prosperity level, at 77% of the UK average. This dire economic statistic is compounded by the fact that we have the lowest mean gross weekly earnings for full-time adults in the UK and that the gap with the UK is growing. Business R&D expenditure for Wales in 2006 had fallen by 7% since 2005, as compared with an increase in the UK of 5%. Our export performance has worsened over the last 12 months and the tourism sector has suffered a downturn. With some economists now predicting a possible recession next year, these statistics are hardly good news for the Welsh economy. On the other hand, the business sector in Wales seems to be going from strength to strength. Ad...

I am now off to Pwllheli for Christmas and will not be blogging again until the New Year. Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda to all in the blogging World.

I will always be grateful to Sir Adrian Webb (above) for the support he gave me when I was appointed to my first professorial chair at the University of Glamorgan in 1996. At a time when entrepreneurship was being ignored across higher education in Wales, he gave me his full backing when I created the Welsh Enterprise Institute as the first research and development organisation of its kind to focus on this area in our country. Indeed, whenever I needed support for any madcap idea on developing enterprise in Wales, Sir Adrian was always willing to give his time and listen patiently to an angry young man’s views on how to change the world. I was therefore looking forward immensely to Promise and Performance , his review of post-14 education in Wales, which was released last week. The 126-page report does take time to digest and has more than 130 recommendations for action. Quite rightly, the report focuses on addressing some of the key structural problems in the further education sector ...

I hope that policymakers will be reading the report from Ernst and Young's ITEM Club this morning. According to the Telegraph, "The study found that although the recent influx has boosted Britain's economy and kept inflation low, it may have increased unemployment for younger Britons and reduced pay increases for all. Since 1997, 1.5 million foreign workers have entered the British workplace, with many of these arriving from Eastern Europe in the past three years since the European Union expansion. This new group typically earns 40 per cent less than British workers. Since 2004, the number of unemployed British 18 to 24 year olds has increased by 100,000, according to the study. " There is some evidence that the growth of immigrant employment seen in the last few years may have come at the expense of the domestic workforce," the report concludes. "Given the age and skill profile of many of the new immigrants, it is possible that 'native' youngsters m...

During the last few weeks, a series of economic indicators have been released which have shown that the Welsh economy is not in as good a state as some optimists would like us to believe. For example, there has been a decrease in spending by private business on R& D, Wales currently has the lowest average full time earnings anywhere in the UK , and there continues to be over 430,000 economically inactive Welsh adults . It was therefore with some trepidation that I logged onto the National statistics website yesterday morning at 9.30am to examine the latest regional prosperity figures (or GVA data) . Unfortunately, this year’s data shows that, yet again, Wales remains at the bottom of the UK prosperity league table, with a level of GVA/head equivalent to 77 per cent of the average for the UK. In contrast, London’s GVA per head of population was 141 per cent of the UK average. The most worrying aspect of this data is that the two regions above us in the ‘relegation zone’ of wealth ...

The Labour Market statistics came out for Wales on Wednesday. They show that there are: 1.342 million people employed in Wales 72,000 unemployed 434,000 economically inactive adults However, if we look at the long terms trends since May 2003, whilst employment has increased by 2.2 per cent in this period, unemployment has also gone up by 18 per cent, which is totally unexpected. In addition, whilst those classed as economically inactive who don't want a job has stayed the same during this four year period, the proportion of economically inactive who want to work has increased by 29 per cent. This means that, along with those who are officially unemployed, there are now 188,000 potential workers without jobs in Wales, an increase of 23 per cent since 2003. In the spirit of Christmas goodwill, I am assuming that the Assembly know the personal, educational and work-related characteristics of this 'lost generation of workers' and have a strategy in place, alongside the private...

A wonderful article by Professor David Reynolds in today's Western Mail where he discusses the success of Finland in education. It is worth reading in its entirity but I shall try and precis some of the more salient points: Finland has a successful economy which offers schools very secure foundations on which to build Finland is a predominantly rural country with small communities that both support and control their young people, and their families. It has an extensive network of public libraries in all of its communities, and a high rate of book borrowing - the newly built library in Turku (pictured above) is amazing Education in school starts late – at age seven – and is built upon high quality social outcomes acquired by children in what is near universal pre-school education, with no obsession with putting academic demands onto children at younger ages Finnish primary schools are small, but generally not as small as those proposed for closure in Wales, and the secondary schools...

Congratulations to Henry Engelhardt and his team at Admiral for becoming the first Welsh business to make the FT 100 , replacing the beleaguered Northern Rock. It is thoroughly deserved not only for their business acumen in creating new brands such as confused.com but the way that they look after their staff, which is one of their key priorities. I found out first hand when I undertook a research project for the Welsh Management Council on the best workplaces in Wales . Perhaps one story which personifies Henry's character is the time when I had invited him to sit as a member of the advisory board for the Business School at Bangor University. We were having a dinner for the board in Beaumaris and Henry was due in at around 4 o clock. He eventually arrived at 9.30pm having driven up especially for the meeting from his son's school in the South West of England. The reason he was late was that he been stuck in traffic in the Midlands for four hours. Whilst others would have turn...

Like many of those who come from rural Wales, I was glad that, finally, some of the biggest supermarket chains were brought to task last week by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for colluding to increase the price of milk and butter. For some time there have been suspicions of anti-competitive practices by the biggest supermarkets, but little has been done because many suppliers have been too scared to give evidence to the myriad Government reviews of this area. This is despite the increasing problems faced by farmers involved in the supply chain, the clear and damaging effects on smaller shops, the loss of local competition and a reduction in retail choice within our previously flourishing market towns. Research has shown that small independent shops employ more people pound-for-pound and keep more of each pound spent circulating locally than big stores, yet planners and local councillors fall over each other to grant permission for supermarket developments which have summarily squee...

A very revealing article on the Farming UK website which, if true, is quite scandalous and shows that the Assembly needs to do far more in terms of supporting local producers. According to NFU Cymru President Dai Davies, "The favourite phrases and themes we have heard from Cardiff Bay of late are local sourcing, sustainability, environment, fair trade and partnership. Now is a perfect time to put these into practice. Fair Trade applies just as much to farmers in Wales as in any other country. The figures uncovered by the Welsh Liberal Democrats are quite frankly astounding. To say that it is a disappointment to learn that only 22% of the estimated £66m spent by the Assembly Government on food and drink in 2005 went to Welsh producers is an understatement." "2007 has been a bad year for Welsh livestock farmers and market prices for lamb are lower than 20 years ago. Welsh produce is of the highest standard in the world and it is about time the Welsh Assembly Government ...

Like many, I was shocked to read about the report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD ) which showed that the educational performance of 15 year olds in Wales is well below average in maths and reading. Whilst the performance of students in science was at the OECD average, it was significantly lower than for students in England, with students failing to participate in science-related activities and schools in Wales reporting more shortages of resources than the OECD average. The most embarrassing fact is that the new accession countries from Central and Eastern Europe are performing better than Wales. Now imagine, if you were the Minister for Education, what you would do if you were faced with this sort of data? Believe it or not, after eight years of a devolved government in Wales which has full responsibility for education and which has received billions in additional funding from the Treasury, we are told that she will “try and learn from the best a...

As I mentioned earlier this week, you can find news about Wales in the strangest places. Therefore, it was with some surprise when I saw the following article in the Hindustan Times , which showed the hitherto unknown international business clout of our First Minister. The Tatas , in the race to buy Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford, have taken a major leap forward with trade unions throwing their weight behind the Indian conglomerate. A source told Hindustan Times that union support "will give Tata an important boost as Ford attempts to appease the (British) government and unions over how it handles the sale of the two iconic brands. The official Tata Motors spokesperson in London refused to say anything as the process was ongoing, but the Tatas have a major supporter in Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan who told Hindustan Times that he was extremely happy with the Tata management of Corus and added that once they acquire Land Rover and Jaguar, "we expect the engineerin...

Last week, a conference in South Wales reported that addictive drug use amongst teenagers is fast becoming a major problem here in Wales, with one Welsh 13 year old shockingly revealed as the youngest heroin addict in the UK. This comes in the wake of increasing concern regarding the use of Class A drugs - such as heroin and cocaine - amongst children, with a dramatic increase in use during the last five years. Are we all in denial over this issue? As one experienced drugs counsellor said, the problem is that nobody wants to admit THAT very young people are using heroin in our communities. "It is no longer a thing for soap operas and gritty films but is happening here in Wales today". I have spoken to community leaders in North Wales about the matter and it is clear that the problem is increasing annually. It was suggested to me that as many as 20 per cent of residents of one estate in North Wales are Class A drug addicts. However, the problem is not limited to our more depri...

Whilst sleaze dominates the headlines, life goes on around Wales, although it seems that none of the usual news outlets (BBC, HTV, MediaWales) are reporting this and we are having to rely on obscure news channels from around the World. For example, Arkansas Business notes that the Milford Haven Oil refinery has just been sold for £125 million pounds Market wire reports that the Mechdyne Corporation has just installed a state of the art 'Powerwall' at Aberystwyth University Indian-based pharmaceutical company Bilcare is to invest in South Wales , according to Business Standard India Wales is the poker capital of the World, reports casinowire.com The Lighthouse Hotel in Llandudno has been voted in the top ten of converted hotels in the World, according to Tripadvisor p.s. for those still wanting more on the self-destruction within the Labour Party, check out Guido's column on the latest Hain revelations . If you thought the Welsh were hard on hain, read the comments secti...

LAST month, this blog examined some recent economic statistics for Wales that did not make happy reading for those of us who want to see the economy flourishing. Four days ago, further data was released by the Office for National Statistics that suggests there has been little improvement in one of the most important parts of the Welsh economy, namely research and development spending by the private sector, otherwise known as BERD. In 2006, BERD expenditure for Wales was £222m, a fall of 7% since 2005. This compares with an increase in BERD expenditure in the UK of 5% to £14.3bn, with spending concentrated in three key sectors – pharmaceuticals (£3.9bn), aerospace (£1.8bn) and computer and related activities (£1.4bn). Sadly, the gap continues to grow between Wales and the UK in terms of research and development activities undertaken by business. Since the creation of the Assembly, Wales now accounts for only 1.6% of the total business R&D undertaken in the UK; in 1999 it was 1.8%. T...