Is the North Wales economy and job market more robust than the South?

I’m really busy with work and personal stuff at the moment so blogging will be lighter than normal for the next week or so.

In the meantime there is an interesting piece last week featuring some good analysis from Tom Bodden in the Daily Post on the state of the job market in North Wales ill post below

And if you haven’t read Gerry Holtham’s piece over at Click on Wales on why Wales is taking a bigger budget cut than Scotland and Northern Ireland then i would recommend it, I can’t imagine politicians of any stripe will agree with his conclusion mind you

From the Daily Post ‘Analysis of the latest headline jobs figures showed North Wales is performing better than Wales as a whole.

The region has a higher proportion of people in jobs, lower economic inactivity and unemployment rate, according to Welsh Assembly Government statistics published yesterday.

The employment rate has fallen over the last year in North Wales, accompanied by a rise in inactivity and unemployment.

But over the longer term, the labour market in North Wales has had a greater improvement than Wales as a whole since 2001.

The most recent data for the benefit claimants shows year-on-year falls in five of the six local authorities in North Wales.

The count rate in September was 3.3% of the population aged 16-64, below both the Wales and the UK averages.

Within North Wales, the lowest rate was in Gwynedd (2.6%) and the highest was in Anglesey (4.1%).

Average weekly earnings in North Wales in 2009 were £498 a week, 84.9% of the UK average.

Weekly earnings were up 3% on the previous year and 43% since 1999, compared to increases of 2% and 44% for Wales as a whole.

Earnings varied between 73.8% of the UK average in Conwy and 91.6% in Flintshire.
In August, jobcentre vacancies and the stock of unfilled vacancies were both up on the previous year in North Wales.

“There were 14,000 people on the claimant count in North Wales in September 2010, down 1,600 or 10% on the previous year (Wales down 12% and the UK down 10%),” the report said.

“Within North Wales, five of the six authorities had falls over the year, with Conwy having the largest (down 15%). Anglesey was the only authority to have a rise over this period (up 5%).

As a measure of wealth creation, North Wales had total Gross Value Added of £9.7bn in 2007. This was £14,300 per head, or 71.7% of the UK average, compared to 74.4% for Wales as a whole.

“The difference from the Wales average is largely explained by out-commuting from the region and lower productivity, partially offset by higher activity rates.

“By contrast, at £13,200, Gross Disposable Household Income per head in North Wales was 88.5% of the UK average in 2008 and above the Wales average of 87.9%.”
There were 306,300 people in employment in the region over the year to March 2010, down 5,900 or 2% on the previous 12 months.

There were 18,900 unemployed people, up 1,500 or 9% on the previous 12 months.

The unemployment rate was 5.8%, up 0.5% over the year but still well below both the Wales (8.4%) and UK rates (7.9%). The rate was 7.2% in Denbighshire compared to 5.3% Conwy.'

It makes you wonder why the Western Mail aren't doing similar analysis, yes things are bad and about to get worse, but surely some good news on the jobs or economy front would be welcome to lift the unrelenting gloom that seems to be settling over Wales.Any source