Health check of the Local Economy

Identifying Skills Issues

The Northampton picture

• The town has been identified by Government as a key area for economic growth, and with its Waterside Enterprise Zone it is attracting further global interest.

• Northampton was also singled out in a recent Experian report as the best place in the UK to do business, the only place in the country to score 19 out of a possible 20 points across four criteria: Number of start-ups, rate of insolvencies, level of financial health and business turnover.

• The town is already home to around 13,000 businesses, the vast majority of which are small and medium sized enterprises. Thanks to its geographical position distribution, transport and communications feature heavily in its list of employment sectors. Northampton’s business diversity has been identified as one of the major factors in its meteoric recovery from the recession.

• The Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone (NWEZ) is one of the top performing Enterprise Zone’s and has a proven track record of delivering infrastructure improvements and site remediation thus catalysing company expansions, new build commercial buildings and new jobs. The NWEZ has created 1,118 jobs and leveraged £152,758,957 of private sector investment.

Economic Context

Source: NOMIS

Total populations

Northampton 219,500

Northamptonshire 700,600

East Midlands 4,637,400

Great Britain 62,756,300

Population

Northampton 219,500

Females 108,300

Males 111,200

UK Business Counts 2014

Source: NOMIS

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire East Midlands East MidlandsEnterprises

Micro (0 to 9) 24,050 88.7% 133,055 87.7%

Small (10 to 49) 2,500 9.2% 15,445 10.2%

Medium (50 to 249) 460 1.7% 2,665 1.8%

Large (250+) 100 0.4% 605 0.4%

Total 27,110 - 151,770 -

Local Units

Micro (0 to 9) 26,355 83.5% 148,605 82.1%

Small (10 to 49) 4,170 13.2% 26,150 14.4%

Medium (50 to 249) 910 2.9% 5,585 3.1%

Large (250+) 135 0.4% 775 0.4%

Total 31,570 - 181,115 -

Northampton accounting for 18.1% of the total East Midlands GVA - £14,979 billion.

Employment percent of Northampton population (Apr 2014-Mar 2015)

Source: NOMIS

86%

14%

Northampton Employment Status of the Employed

EmployeesSelf Employed

There are 117,500 economically active people in Northampton of which 112,600 are currently employed (96,600 are considered employees whilst the remaining 15,500 are self employed).

77%

23%

Percentage of 16-64 year olds that are in employment

Employed

63.32% of Northamptonshire is of working age (16-64 years)Of which 77% are in employment.

Ec onomical active In employment Unemployed (Model- Based)

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

Northampton

East Midlands

Great Britain

Mange

rs, dire

ctors

and se

nior offical

s

Profes

sional

Occupati

ons

Associa

te pro

f & te

ch occu

pations

Administrati

ve an

d Secre

terial

Occu

pations

Skills

trad

es occu

pations

Caring,

leisu

re an

d other ser

vice o

ccupati

ons

Sales

and Custo

mer Se

rvice

Ocupati

ons

Proces

s, plan

t and m

achine o

perative

s

Elemen

tary O

ccupati

ons-2.50%

-1.50%

-0.50%

0.50%

1.50%

2.50%

3.50%

Northamptonshire Great Britain

Employment by Occupation Change from 2011-2014

Largest increase was seen within the professional occupations field at +3.7% then the Caring, leisure and other sector occupations at 0.9%.

Biggest decrease was within the process plant and machine operatives sector decreasing by 2.2% and then the skilled trade occupations which saw a 1.8% decrease.

Source: NEP LEA 2015

Northampton Economic Inactivity (Apr 2014-Mar 2015)

Student Looking After Family/Home

Long-Term Sick Retired0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

NorthamptonEast MidlandsGreat Britain

Source: NOMIS

80.4% of Northampton's working age population are Economically Active leaving around 27,800 inactive.

Of the inactive population, the percentage of some of the key reasons are highlighted here- There are other reasons such as temporary sick and discouraged elements that are not detailed here.

The Inactive population of Northampton is totalled at 27,800 of which 89.2% ‘Do not want a job’ according to Nomis (ONS annual population survey).

Benefit Claimants

19%

48%

11%

11%2% 8% 1%

Job seekersESA and incapacity benefitsLone parentsCarersOthers on income related benefitsDisabledBereaved

There is a total of 16,730 working age benefit claimants in Northampton as at February 2015.The reasons for claiming Jobseekers Allowance are detailed below:

Source: NOMIS

19%

57%

24%JSA Claimants by age

Aged 18-24Aged 25-49Aged 50-64

There is a total of 16,730 working age benefit claimants in Northampton as at February 2015.The reasons for claiming Jobseekers Allowance are detailed below:

Local Skills Context

Northampton Coventry Warwick Cranfield Leicester0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Student Totals in some of the surrounding universities Northampton location offers networks for various Universities with an hours commute, some of these include:- Northampton- Coventry- Warwick- Cranfield- Leicester- Luton- Oxford- Buckingham- Worcester- Birmingham

Source: LLMR

NVQ4 and above NVQ3 and above NVQ2 and above NVQ1 and above Other qualifications No qualifications0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

NorthamptonEast MidlandsGreat Britain

Source: NOMIS

There are lower levels of skills achievement at every level in Northampton compared within the East Midlands and Great Britain statistics. The population of Northampton that have no qualifications has however reduced from 15.1% in 2004 to the 11.6% we see in last years statistics as shown in the chart below.

Jan 04-Dec 04

Jan 05-Dec 05

Jan 06-Dec 06

Jan 07-Dec 07

Jan 08-Dec 08

Jan 09-Dec 09

Jan 10-Dec 10

Jan 11-Dec 11

Jan 12-Dec 12

Jan 13-Dec 13

Jan 14-Dec 14

05,000

10,00015,00020,00025,00030,000

Northampton population with no Qualifications

Northampton Qualifications Statistics (Jan 2014-Dec 2014)

Skills Capital Projects in the surrounding area- Northampton College- Engineering Futures- Advanced Integrated-Engineering Centre for Transport- Engineering and Construction Skills Centre- Smart City Thinking- Banbury and Bicester Collage

Local Skills Provision

Apprenticeships and traineeships in Northamptonshire have increased from 2,790 starts in 2005/6 to 7,690 in 2013 (ONS).Northampton delivered 2,020 apprenticeships starts in 2013-14

6.1% of Northamptonshire population are NEETs (16-18)

Earnings by workplace (2014)

Northamptonshire(pounds)

East Midlands(pounds)

Great Britain(pounds)

Gross weekly pay

Full-time workers 464.5 477.2 520.2

Male full-time workers 498.8 519.2 560.6

Female full-time workers 415.5 412.4 462.5

Hourly pay - excluding overtime

Full-time workers 11.54 11.78 13.14

Male full-time workers 11.86 12.34 13.68

Female full-time workers 10.84 10.90 12.33

Earnings by workplace (2014)

Source: NOMIS

Northamptonshire’s Strategic Economic Plan

Target Vision for Skills Vision for Jobs Economy Vision

By 2021 Deliver 32,500 new jobs Total of 397,500 jobs and 1,600 new businesses

Increase economy from £15bn to £20bn.

By 2031 Create 70,000 new jobs Total of 435,000 jobs by 2031

Northampton Enterprise Partnerships Employment and Skills Strategic Priorities

- Developing our future workforce- Meeting the current and future demands of business- Developing the delivery infrastructure

Northamptonshire’s Strategic Economic Plan- Vision for Growth:To increase the prosperity of Northamptonshire’s people and businesses by creating high skilled employment opportunities, within the most connected, safe and vibrant place to live, work and do business.

Source: Northamptonshire’s Strategic Economic Plan

Identified Skills issues locally

NBC business engagement activities; understanding the local economy

• Regular individual company visits• Business events• Regular contact with commercial agents• NBC Inward Investment services/enquiries• Targeted business engagement programmes

Enterprise Zone business engagement exercise Dec 2013

• 2 month programme of business visits (14 businesses in total)• In addition to ongoing business engagement• Set questions re the businesses and their future plans

Snap shot of results:

• Nearly ¾ of businesses surveyed are planning growth either in terms of employment numbers or floor space.

The top three business issues were 1.) Expansion space 2.) Skills 3.) Broadband

Skills information and Support services- NEP Employment and Skills Strategy Board- SEMLEP Skills forum- Northampton Borough Council Local Economic Forum (NLEF) - LEP / University Growth Hubs

Employers in Partnership- Enterprise Zone Business EngagementThe chart to the right shows the skills levels of employment within the Enterprise Zone from the 2014 Business Engagement Programme.

Making the most of Apprenticeships- NEP Employment and Skills Strategy Board to develop ‘Apprentice Training Agency’ or extending

existing ATA to cover the EZ.

Centre of Excellence- Tie the Centre of Excellence in with an EZ Enterprise Centre (Centre of excellence opening in Summer

2015 funded by AMSCI as part of Cosworth Development.

Collaborative Implementation- Flexible and responsive EZ Skills Strategy - NBC and SEMLEP adopting strategy and identifying required activity and most relevant delivery agents- Identification of activity that fits with LEP’s ESIF implementation plan and ESF funding elements

Potential resolutions/solutions

43%

31%

19%7%

Enterprise Zone Skill Levels

LowMediumMediuum/HighHigh