Page 32 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan 2019

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b) Demographic Challenges: Productivity (as measured by GVA) within predominantly rural areas is significantly below the UK and also below those of more urban areas across the region. This is a trend that is visible across the UK. This is in part due to the employment demography visible in the region, employment is most prevalent in those sectors which are characterised as being low GVA industries. The graph below depicts that employment levels are relatively low in those sectors highlighted in bold which are considered high value sectors.
Employment by Industry
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Production
Construction
Wholesale, Retail, Transport, Hotels & Food Information & Communication
Finance & Insurance Activities
Real Estate Activities
Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities Public Administration, Defence, Education & Health
c) AccesstoServices:Ruralityandinparticulardeepruralityplacessignificantpressuresonthedeliveryof services due to a number of different factors which include;
• Lower population densities which make achieving relative economies of scale difficult, this can include a low number of clients for services to support, making costs expensive for delivery bodies as well as limiting potential engagement opportunities.
• Large travel distances increases the time and cost for accessing services, this can hinder the skills development of individuals within rural areas who may encounter these barriers.
• Poor digital connectivity remains a challenge due to the cost of installing fibre broadband, issues with ‘the last mile of connectivity’ remain a significant challenge for many in rural areas although this has improved somewhat in recent years.
d) BrainDrain:Pushandpullfactorsarethemainreasonsindividualsmigrateawayfromanarea.Inrecent years those areas classed as rural or semi-rural have seen a pattern of migration whereby skilled people have been moving away from areas and relocating to more urban areas, this movement is known as ‘brain drain’ and can cause rural depopulation. The major pull factors which result in this movement include; employment, higher incomes, better healthcare and education and urban facilities and way of life. The four counties classed as rural within the region saw an over-all loss of 1,101 individuals aged between 15 and 29 between 2016 and 2017. On the contrary Swansea and Neath Port Talbot saw a net increase of 510 over the same time period.
To reduce the likelihood of the continuation of this trend, areas of focus from a policy perspective include:
• Boosting educational attainment to improve skills throughout the workforce,
• Putting in place good economic fundamentals that underpin successful city economies – transport, housing
and planning,
• Helping to boost demand for high-skilled workers among businesses by concentrating on innovation,
inward investment and enterprise policies.34
34 Centre for Cities – The Great British Brain Drain (2016)
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales
Policy Context