Page 20 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan

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2.5 The Welsh Language
WG’s vision is to see the Welsh language thriving in Wales, a long-term strategy which will span between 2017 and 2050 will detail the ambition of reaching a million Welsh speakers by 2050.11
A study into the Welsh language needs of businesses in eight key sectors conducted by WG found that around 40% of employers surveyed in South West Wales and 38% of employers in Mid Wales found having Welsh language skills to be important compared to 35% across Wales.
The primary evidence gathered by the RLSP supports this but further substantiates its importance in different sectors. For instance, the vast majority of respondents surveyed within the Health and Social Care, Leisure, Tourism and Retail and the Creative Industries sectors reported the Welsh Language as being very important within their businesses. Further information can be found within the sector profiles.
2.6 Qualification Levels of the Population
The most recent statistics indicate that 12.5% of the population of South West Wales had no qualifications, this is above the Welsh average at 10.2%. Conversely, only 6.9% of the population of Mid Wales had no qualifications, comparing positively with the Welsh average. This trend is also pertinent when analysing those qualified to level 4 or above with the Welsh average at 35.8%. South West Wales’ average sits below this at 33.5% and Mid Wales’ sits above at 38.1%.12
2.7 Employment & Unemployment
The most recent statistics indicate that there were 388,700 people in employment in the region in the year to September 2016, with both regions showing increases over the year. Of the 6 counties, only Pembrokeshire saw a decrease in employment over the year.
Employment rates were higher in Mid Wales, 73.6%, than in South West Wales, 70.7%. However, both were lower than the UK rate of 73.7%. Within the two economic regions, Powys had the highest employment rate of 77.8% and Ceredigion had the lowest with only 66.9% of their population being in employment.
At 5.3%, unemployment rates were higher in South West Wales than in both Wales and the UK. Conversely, the unemployment rate in Mid Wales was 3.1%, which was lower than the rates for both the UK and Wales. This was driven by South West Wales containing the county with the third highest rate of unemployment; Swansea.13
2.8 Travel to Work Areas Analysis
The commuting of individuals within the region to places of work is an important consideration when identifying the different impacts of traveling to work across the region.14
11 http://gov.wales/topics/welshlanguage/policy/living/?lang=en
12 http://rlp.infobasecymru.net/IAS/themes/economy/labourmarketintelligence/qualifications,educationandtraining
/tabular?viewId=1984&geoId=1&subsetId=42
13 http://rlp.infobasecymru.net/IAS/themes/economy/labourmarketintelligence/people%e2%80%93demographics,
employment,unemploymentandeconomicinactivity/tabular?viewId=1975&geoId=1&subsetId=42
14 The ONS undertakes a wide analysis of the travel to work trends across both geographic areas as well across socio-
economic classifications. These travel to work areas are defined as ‘at least 75% of the area’s resident workforce work in the area and at least 75% of the people who work in the area also live in the area.’ It is important to note that travel to work boundaries do not match existing administrative boundaries highlighting the complexities involved in understanding the impact on individual areas
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales Policy Context