Employment and economy
The vision for Wiltshire is a resilient, sustainable and competitive economy characterised by a greater proportion of higher value, higher skilled jobs by:
- Making sure the county’s workforce is skilled and competitive
- Maintaining a well connected, reliable and resilient transport system to support economic and planned development growth
- Delivering excellence in digital connectivity to achieve business growth
- Delivering the infrastructure required to deliver planned growth and regenerate our City and Town Centres, and improve our visitor and cultural offer
- Strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium sized businesses, and attract a greater share of foreign and domestic investment into the area
The following report provides comparative analysis of a range of key indicators relating to Wiltshire's economy and is intended as a resource to help identify local priorities at community area level. The report includes an employment profile for Wiltshire’s community areas, detail on local claimant counts, levels of people claiming welfare benefits and retail health in our communities.
The data here is designed to help communities to understand local issues and to develop community-led work to improve local outcomes.
The information below covers the following areas:
Working age population Personal loans
Employment sectors Local welfare provision
.
Links to other thematic areas
Working age population
The percentage of the population of working age in Wiltshire is 60%, in England it is 63%. A few community areas have a notably smaller percentage than Wiltshire, these are Pewsey and Tisbury. Tidworth has a much higher percentage.
Definition: Percentage of the population between the ages of 16 and 64.
Data Source and Time Period: Office for National Statistics, Mid-year 2018.
Largest employment sectors in Wiltshire
The 10 largest employment sectors in Wiltshire have been provided in the table above. The largest employment sector in Wiltshire is Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. This is also true nationally. Nine community areas have the same largest sector as Wiltshire. Human health and social work activities is the largest sector in five community areas. The remaining seven areas have a variety of largest sector employers; these are professional scientific and technical, manufacturing, education, accommodation and food services and information and communication.
Definition: Percentage of the total workforce included in a particular sector. To create rates the ONS mid-year 2018 population figures were used.
Data Source and Time Period: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2018.
Working age population on out of work benefits
This is an experimental indicator provided by DWP which is likely to change with changes to the benefit system. Nationally 8% of those between 16 and 64 are in receipt of out of work benefits. In Wiltshire this falls to 5%. Two areas, Salisbury and Trowbridge, have higher rates than Wiltshire and Malmesbury has a lower rate.
Definition: The percentage of those who are working age who were in receipt of an out of work benefit. This is an experimental measure. For the purposes of this indicator, out-of-work benefits are defined as being on at least one of the following benefits: - Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) - Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Incapacity Benefit (IB) - Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) - Income Support (IS) where Carer’s Allowance (CA) not also in payment - Pension Credit (PC) where Carer’s Allowance (CA) not also in payment - Universal Credit (UC) where conditionality regime is one of Searching for Work, Preparing for Work or Planning for Work. The categories of this indicator are mutually exclusive and therefore can be summed without double counting. Claimants may or may not be additionally in receipt of other benefits not listed here. To create rates the ONS mid-year 2018 population figures were used.
Data Source and Time Period: Department for Works and Pensions, February 2019.
Child poverty
Over 16.3% of 0-19 year olds in England are thought to be living in poverty. In Wiltshire 9.4% of 0-19 year olds are living in poverty. There is variation across Wiltshire with the highest percentage in Westbury (12.9%) and the lowest in Marlborough (5.7%).
Definition: Percentage of children living in families in receipt of CTC whose reported income is less than 60 per cent of the median income or in receipt of IS or (Income-Based) JSA, divided by the total number of children in the area (determined by estimates of ONS/NISRA/NRS for children aged 0 - 15 and Child Benefit data for children aged 16 - 19).
Data Source and Time Period: HMRC https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-children-in-low-income-families-local-measure-2016-snapshot-as-at-31-august-2016, 2016.
Claims for Carers Allowance for those entitled to payment
Over 7,000 Wiltshire residents were entitled to carers allowance in February 2019. As a rate Wiltshire has 18 per 1,000 individuals claiming and entitled to carers allowance. This is smaller than the national rate of 25 per 1,000. Calne, Warminster and Tisbury have a notably higher rate than Wiltshire. Marlborough, Malmesbury and Bradford on Avon have a notably lower rate.
Definition: Claims for carers allowances found to be entitled to payment as rate per 1,000 people aged 16 and over. Entitled cases include both the people in receipt of an allowance and those with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. However, this does not capture individuals who have not made a claim for carers allowance. To create rates the ONS mid-year 2018 population figures were used.
Data Source and Time Period: Department for Works and Pensions, February 2019.
Personal loan amounts per person
UK Finance present the amount of personal loans provided by lenders accounting for 60% of the personal loans in Britain by postcode area. Residents in Wiltshire are estimated to be borrowing over £300 million in personal loans. Per person 18 or over this equates to £796. Wilton, Amesbury and Calne have a notably higher rate per person than Wiltshire. Salisbury and Chippenham have a notably lower rate per person than Wiltshire.
Definition: Personal loans per person. Participating lenders in the personal loan datasets are Barclays, CYBG, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander UK in Great Britain; Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank, First Trust Bank, Nationwide Building Society and Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland Collectively, these institutions account for 60 per cent of unsecured personal loan markets in Britain. The level of borrowing does not imply the financial health of borrowers. To create rates the ONS mid-year 2018 population figures were used.
Data Source and Time Period: https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data/household-finance/personal-loans-within-uk-postcodes, Q2 2019.
Local welfare provision
Over 3,000 incidences of local welfare provision have occurred over the 3 year period of 2016/17-2018/19. Trowbridge has a much higher number of accepted claims than any other area. Chippenham, Devizes and Salisbury also have higher numbers. Higher numbers are likely due to the location of the offices as clients who are homeless or in emergency accommodation are likely to receive provision.
Definition: The local welfare provision scheme provides critical short-term help and assistance with limited one-off household goods. To find out more please visit http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/benefits-help-crisis.
Data Source and Time Period: Wiltshire Council, 2016/17-2018/19.
Apprenticeships
During 2018/19 there were over 5,500 apprenticeship placements in Wiltshire. As a rate of the 16 and over population this equates to 139 per 10,000. Three community areas have a much higher rate. These are Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade, Amesbury and Warminster. It is thought that these areas have a higher rate due to apprenticeships supported by the MOD.
Definition: Rate of formal apprenticeships per 1,000 people aged 16 and over. To create rates the ONS mid-year 2018 population figures were used.
Data Source and Time Period: Wiltshire Council, 2018/19.
Wiltshire Council car park ticket sales
Car parks are an important part of our transport network. A good parking system reduces the barriers visitors have to come to a location. 3.28 million tickets were sold in Wiltshire Council carparks in the 11 month period from 1st Jan 2019 to 30th November 2019. 28% of these sales were for carparks in Salisbury.
Definition: Ticket sales in key Wiltshire Council car parks.
Data Source and Time Period: Wiltshire Council, Parking Services, 01/01/2019-30/11/2019.