• The latest population of Wales is 2.96 million.
• By 2020 the population is projected to be 3.17 million. There will be 14,000 more children compared with present. The working age population is projected to be around 1.9 million.
• 73% of 2020 workforce have already left compulsory education.
• By 2020, the retirement age population is expected to have increased by 13.4%.
• According to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2005 South East Wales and South West Wales have the greatest proportion of LSOAs (13% and 11% respectively) in the 10% most deprived LSOAs in Wales.
• Gross Value Added in Wales is £42.7 billion. There are 190,000 active business enterprises and a workforce of 1.3 million people.
• At £14,396, GVA per head of the population in Wales in 2006 was 77% of the UK average (£18,631) and lower than any other UK country or English region.
• Hourly productivity in Wales, as measured by GVA per hour worked, was 87% of the UK average in 2006.
• Large enterprises (250 or more employees) account for 41% of business sector employees in Wales, compared to 43% across the UK as a whole.
• At 5.4%, the unemployment rate in Wales is the same as that for the UK as a whole.
• The employment rate in Wales is 71.2% of the working age population, around 3 percentage points below the UK average.
• There is a small net out-commuting flow from Wales to England. In 2005, 74,000 Welsh residents were working outside Wales and 51,000 people resident outside Wales traveled into Wales to work.
• Nearly 1 in 4 jobs in Wales are in the public sector, the same proportion now as in 1999.
• Over half of jobs in Wales are either in the health, education and public administration sectors or in wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants.
• Relative to the UK as a whole, there is a higher percentage of jobs in the health, education and public administration sectors in Wales and a lower proportion in the finance and business activities sectors.
• 74% of 16 – 18 year olds are participating in education or some form of training
• 76% of year 11 school leavers in 2006 continued in full-time education. 54% of year 11 leavers remaining in full-time education stayed on school while 46% opted to continue to year 12 in a further education college.
• Proportion of 16-18 year olds not in education, training or employment (NEET) has remained at around 10-12% for the past few years.
• 15% of male employees and 19% of female employees in Wales had received work related training in the previous 4 weeks.
• Some 450,000 adults in Wales (25% of the total aged 16-65) are at entry level or below in literacy and almost 1 million people (53%) have entry level numeracy skills. Corresponding proportions from the all-England survey are 16% and 47%
• 68% of all adults of working age have a qualification at level 2 or above, with 26% at level 4 or above. 16% of the working age population have no qualifications.
Source: StatsWales
