Article from the Western Mail's business section this morning, which quotes yours truly....
Productivity per job in Wales is lower than any other part of the UK, official statistics have revealed. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, Wales had the lowest output per filled job with a value of 86.2, based on a UK average of 100. Wales also had the lowest Gross Value Added (GVA) per head in the UK as well as the second lowest GVA per hour worked, with Northern Ireland bottom.
GVA measures the contribution to the overall economy by each individual. The most productive parts of the UK were London, the south east of England and England as a whole.
Economist Dylan Jones-Evans, director of the National Entrepreneurship Observatory, yesterday argued Wales’ jobs creation in the 21st century has been too heavily in the retail sector.
He said, “This is not surprising. If you look at where the majority of jobs have been created in Wales, all the stats show that they have been largely part-time, low paid and in retail. Unemployment is not going down while employment is going up. Not all of that can be put down to the effect of immigration and those immigrants taking up jobs.”
Professor Jones-Evans said too many jobs had been lost in manufacturing with not enough well-paid jobs being created to replace them.
He went on, “We don’t have any high-technology jobs that would, in themselves, create a higher level of output and therefore GVA. And a lot of public sector jobs that have been created are not high GVA either.”
Prof Jones-Evans said the Welsh Assembly Government needed to be more proactive in helping business, rather than setting up various advisory groups. He argued that not enough money from Objective One has gone into developing the manufacturing sector and called for more support to create jobs which would add value to the Welsh economy.
A WAG spokesman said there is “clearly more to be done”. “Our effectiveness in developing Welsh businesses and attracting global investment was recently shown with the announcement that Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics is to move work from Los Angeles to Llanberis, creating 200 jobs – just one example of how Wales is competing in the global economy and creating high quality, skilled employment opportunities,” he said.
“Close links between enterprise and our academic community offer another route to building on this progress and further developing our knowledge economy, with world-class science and know-how opening up enormous potential and creating high quality and well paid jobs.
“This drive to increase the quality of the jobs created in Wales – and hence increase our competitive position – is underpinned by a commitment to increase the skills of our workforce. We are already working to create new opportunities to access apprenticeships, training and technical education, and just last month, the Assembly Government launched a consultation on our Skills and Employment Strategy.
“The strategy will strengthen the voice of employers in the skills system and ensure that our programmes are increasingly flexible and tailored to the unique requirements of different people, businesses and communities.
“The new round of European funding programmes, utilising, whenever possible, European Investment Bank support, will provide us with the opportunity to deliver real improvement. The Assembly Government is determined to use this major investment to help businesses grow – increasing the value of each job and raising productivity and earnings across Wales.”
Whilst I welcome WAG's admittance that more needs to be done, one mustn't forget that members of the current government has been responsible for economic development during the last eight years of devolved government, including the First Minister himself. As a result of a filure to get to grip with real economic issues in Wales, we are bootom of the prosperity league table, tens of thousands of jobs have been cut in manufacturing and millions lost in capital investment.
Also, no points I am afraid for the WAG spokesperson who said “The 200 people who will fill the new biotech jobs announced last week by Siemens in Llanberis, rather than in Los Angeles, will not be interested in capital investment figures. It’s the quality and sustainability of the jobs that counts".
Actually, no!
The Assembly's own research studies show that it is low capital expenditure that is the primary driver behind low productivity performance in Wales.
I will comment on the European Investment Bank scenario tomorrow as I think that will do little unless it can get funding directly to businesses at a price which they can afford.
Productivity per job in Wales is lower than any other part of the UK, official statistics have revealed. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, Wales had the lowest output per filled job with a value of 86.2, based on a UK average of 100. Wales also had the lowest Gross Value Added (GVA) per head in the UK as well as the second lowest GVA per hour worked, with Northern Ireland bottom.
GVA measures the contribution to the overall economy by each individual. The most productive parts of the UK were London, the south east of England and England as a whole.
Economist Dylan Jones-Evans, director of the National Entrepreneurship Observatory, yesterday argued Wales’ jobs creation in the 21st century has been too heavily in the retail sector.
He said, “This is not surprising. If you look at where the majority of jobs have been created in Wales, all the stats show that they have been largely part-time, low paid and in retail. Unemployment is not going down while employment is going up. Not all of that can be put down to the effect of immigration and those immigrants taking up jobs.”
Professor Jones-Evans said too many jobs had been lost in manufacturing with not enough well-paid jobs being created to replace them.
He went on, “We don’t have any high-technology jobs that would, in themselves, create a higher level of output and therefore GVA. And a lot of public sector jobs that have been created are not high GVA either.”
Prof Jones-Evans said the Welsh Assembly Government needed to be more proactive in helping business, rather than setting up various advisory groups. He argued that not enough money from Objective One has gone into developing the manufacturing sector and called for more support to create jobs which would add value to the Welsh economy.
A WAG spokesman said there is “clearly more to be done”. “Our effectiveness in developing Welsh businesses and attracting global investment was recently shown with the announcement that Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics is to move work from Los Angeles to Llanberis, creating 200 jobs – just one example of how Wales is competing in the global economy and creating high quality, skilled employment opportunities,” he said.
“Close links between enterprise and our academic community offer another route to building on this progress and further developing our knowledge economy, with world-class science and know-how opening up enormous potential and creating high quality and well paid jobs.
“This drive to increase the quality of the jobs created in Wales – and hence increase our competitive position – is underpinned by a commitment to increase the skills of our workforce. We are already working to create new opportunities to access apprenticeships, training and technical education, and just last month, the Assembly Government launched a consultation on our Skills and Employment Strategy.
“The strategy will strengthen the voice of employers in the skills system and ensure that our programmes are increasingly flexible and tailored to the unique requirements of different people, businesses and communities.
“The new round of European funding programmes, utilising, whenever possible, European Investment Bank support, will provide us with the opportunity to deliver real improvement. The Assembly Government is determined to use this major investment to help businesses grow – increasing the value of each job and raising productivity and earnings across Wales.”
Whilst I welcome WAG's admittance that more needs to be done, one mustn't forget that members of the current government has been responsible for economic development during the last eight years of devolved government, including the First Minister himself. As a result of a filure to get to grip with real economic issues in Wales, we are bootom of the prosperity league table, tens of thousands of jobs have been cut in manufacturing and millions lost in capital investment.
Also, no points I am afraid for the WAG spokesperson who said “The 200 people who will fill the new biotech jobs announced last week by Siemens in Llanberis, rather than in Los Angeles, will not be interested in capital investment figures. It’s the quality and sustainability of the jobs that counts".
Actually, no!
The Assembly's own research studies show that it is low capital expenditure that is the primary driver behind low productivity performance in Wales.
I will comment on the European Investment Bank scenario tomorrow as I think that will do little unless it can get funding directly to businesses at a price which they can afford.