Statistics and information on the workforce of Swansea Bay - including working age, numbers in employment, commuting times, skills and qualifications.
The area’s labour market characteristics demonstrate strong integration between the three individual authorities in Swansea Bay. The travel-to-work patterns illustrate significant cross-boundary flows, the most significant of which occurs into Swansea from surrounding areas, reinforcing its status as the regional hub.
In 2008, Swansea Bay had 493 enterprises registered for VAT/PAYE per 10,000 working age population
The latest data on the structure of Swansea Bay’s workforce, using information from the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Population Survey, suggests that Economic Activity and Employment Rates in Swansea Bay are close to the Wales average.
231,200 people, 68% of the working age population of Swansea Bay, are in employment (APS, March 2009).
Skills and qualifications
Qualifications within resident population
Higher Education
The region has three main Higher Education institutions, Swansea University, Swansea Metropolitan University (previously known as Swansea Institute of Higher Education) and University of Wales:Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen, – which became the UK’s newest University in February 2009. Together, they receive over 20,000 applications for degree studies every academic year.
Swansea’s two universities have some of the highest percentages of students in the UK who want to stay on in the area of study after graduation, reflecting the great lifestyle on offer. Swansea University is internationally recognised for its excellence in research, particularly in the fields of Engineering, Computer Science and Medicine. Swansea Metropolitan meanwhile is recognised in the fields of Art & Design, Engineering and Education.
The creation of several specialist institutes linked to the universities are key to the economic regeneration of the region and have provided a strong local support network for businesses and companies and some world class facilities for research and development.
Swansea University in particular is a strong economic driver for the region, working closely with business and describing itself as ‘aggressively ambitious’. The University is presently developing detailed plans for an Innovation Campus where business and academia can develop alongside each other. Plans centre on a site at the gateway to Swansea from junction 42 of M4,
