Keeping track of Plymouth’s Economy

The following objective is from the Core Strategy:

The recession has had a significant impact on the economy nationally. This is also reflected locally in Plymouth.

To make sure we are supporting employment and business in the city there are a number of facts and figures that we monitor. This helps to build up a picture of what is happening in the city. This information is used to help decide what support policies, plans and investment could offer now and in the future.

Did you know that:

• 4.2 hectares of employment land were developed in the city in 2010 to 2011 - this provided over 10,000 square metres of employment floorspace
• The employment rate in Plymouth (69.4 per cent) is lower than the national average (70.2 per cent)
• Although total employee numbers fell by around 5,600 in Plymouth’s travel to work area between 2008 and 2009, the number of jobs in creative industries and medical and healthcare has increased.
• 605 new business started up in 2009

The current picture shows a job market that is decreasing. Public administration and education are particularly badly affected and are under further pressure due to the city moving away from a dependence on the public sector. The number of new businesses starting up has also been falling, however this has not been as much as the rest of the south west.

Find out more by looking at the following sections:

• New employment land
• New employment floorspace
• Future employment potential
• Employment rate
• Jobs by sector
• Site safeguardin
• Economic prosperity

We will update this information as we receive more data to help us understand the impact the recession has had on the city.

This page of the annual monitoring report was last updated December 2011.