UK Business Information / East of England

The East of England benefits greatly from having a world-leading university, Cambridge, in its region. Although not all students stay in the region after graduation, a significant proportion do, bolstering the skills of the local workforce.

26% of the local population have achieved NVQ level 4 or above.

The table below shows how the East of England's workforce breaks down among the region's industries.

EMPLOYMENT JOBS BY INDUSTRY (thousands):

Original data from ONS - labour market statistics

The Cambridge area is where the most highly skilled workforce is concentrated. 43,000 people are employed at an estimated 1,400 high-technology companies.

Greater Cambridge, and consequently the East of England, is the UK's leading region for biosciences. Many biotech and medical technology companies are started by graduates of Cambridge and so maintain strong links with their former university.

It is not only Cambridge in the East of England that contains a highly skilled workforce, however. Norwich Research Park is one of Europe’s largest sites of biotechnology research with 6,500 employees and 900 post-graduate research posts available on site.

Apart from biosciences, East of England has a thriving telecommunications industry. 7,000 people are employed in Ipswich, Harwich and Felixstowe.

17.7% of the region's population are employed in financial services. One of the larger financial companies in the region is the insurer, Aviva, which employs over 7,000 people in Norwich.