Update on employment (From Western Telegraph)

Update on employment

3:40pm Saturday 27th February 2010 in

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Dear Editor

In a letter to last week’s Western Telegraph, S. Crockett questioned the relationship between proposed new housing in Haverfordwest and Johnston and employment opportunities.

I think your correspondent may be living in the past as employment opportunities in the county have improved significantly over the past ten years.

Since the Millennium, an extra 9,400 are in employment. As the working age population increased by less than 3,000, we now have 72.8% of the county’s working age people in employment, which is closer to the 73.3% GB average than the 69.4% Welsh average.

As a consequence, unemployment in Pembrokeshire has fallen from being one of the highest in Wales to one of the lowest.

In parallel, the average wage rate has risen from 7.6% below, to 5.8% above the Welsh average.

Mr Crockett also implies that people moving into these new homes could just claim benefits.

Since February 2000, when 19.7% of the county’s working age population were claiming at least one key out-of-work benefit, some 2,520 fewer people now claim this type of benefit.

Comparing this against the all-Wales situation, we now see that 14.6% of working age people in the county claim these benefits against 17.3% across Wales.

New housing will hopefully enable former residents of the county to return, bringing with them new skills. An increased skill base will then attract yet more businesses to establish themselves in Pembrokeshire, creating yet more and better paid jobs to benefit people who live here.

Incidentally, at the last count there were more than 4,000 on the county’s housing waiting list.

Councillor John Allen-Mirehouse
Deputy leader and cabinet member for regeneration and economic development
Pembrokeshire County Council.