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Workforce Summary

Swansea is Wales’ second largest city with a population of approximately 229,100, whilst the wider Swansea Bay area is home to 547,000 residents, over 18% of Wales’ total population.

Employers have access to 1.5 million people living within an hour’s travel of Swansea, with strong cross-boundary travel to work patterns and easy access to the M4 motorway, meaning that the commuter area encompasses much of South Wales.  76.4% of men and 70.4% of women in Swansea Bay were reported as being economically active for the year ending March 2009.

The employment profile of Swansea Bay gives a good indication of the prevalent skills in the region. The largest number of jobs are in Public administration, education and health (36%), followed by Distribution, hotels & restaurants (24%); Finance, IT, other business activities (15%); Manufacturing (11%). Around 8% of the employee jobs in Swansea Bay are tourism related.

The population of the region is forecast to grow.

For more information about the structure of the regions labour force and demographics, visit our website.

Education and Qualification

26.4% of the population of Swansea Bay holds qualifications at NVQ level 4 and above. The figure for Swansea itself is 29%, reflecting the presence of higher and further educational establishments in the city and the more rural nature of the rest of Swansea Bay.

Much is being done throughout Swansea Bay to match employers skills needs to qualification and training, particularly at post 16 education level. With world-class academic research credentials and a plentiful supply of graduates, more than 18,000 students attend Higher Education establishments within the region.

Estimates of qualification levels held by the working age resident population in Swansea point to the presence of a more skilled workforce than the Welsh average, in part reflecting the presence of Higher and Further Education establishments in Swansea and the retention of graduates. Swansea University in particular is a strong economic driver for the region, describing itself as 'aggressively ambitious'.

Availability

A potential workforce of up to 1.5million people live within an hour's drive of Swansea city centre, and with excellent transport links available via road (M4) and rail, it's considered easily accessible from much of South Wales.

Swansea's two universities, with their 18,000 students, have some of the highest percentages of students in the UK who want to stay on in the area of study after graduation, reflecting the great lifestyle on offer, and a definite boon to potential employers.

Swansea Bay has a number of employment agencies able to provide permanent and temporary staff over a wide range of occupations.

JobCentre Plus works actively with employers on recruitment, with a number of incentives available. For major developments it will set up specific job shops - as was done for Amazon when they set up their 4th and largest UK distribution centre in Swansea Bay.

Labour Costs

Average gross weekly earnings for South West Wales for 2008 stood at £428 per week, marginally above the Welsh average and well below the UK figure.

In 2008, the average annual salary for full time employees stood at £22,342 in Swansea Bay, compared to the UK average of £25,123.

This means that Swansea Bay is a very cost effective location for employers and due to reasonable house prices in the region, people can still enjoy a high standard of living in spite of the lower wages.

Training and Recruitment Initiatives

There are a range of schemes for training and recruitment, including:

• Welsh Government offers a Workforce Development Programme to help businesses to become more profitable, by training staff in new skills.
• Employment Training, one of the largest vocational training providers in Wales, works with local and national businesses helping to address skills gaps.
• Job Centre Plus works actively with employers on recruitment, with a number of incentives available. For major developments this can include setting up specific job shops - as was done for Amazon when they set up their 4th and largest UK distribution centre in Swansea Bay in 2008.
• Go Wales is a service to help employers recruit and retain graduate staff and can include supported work placements and free advertising of graduate vacancies.

Other

 Much is being done throughout Swansea Bay to more closely match employers skills needs to qualification and training, particularly at post 16 education level. Those responsible for Further Education and Higher Education provision play an important role in developing and delivering the economic strategies for the region and working to support employer needs. The colleges work actively with employers in the region.