A new report finds Bournemouth has experienced the fifth largest growth in the country in the number of new jobs created in the area over the past decade.
Bournemouth is the only town in the South West where jobs have not fallen behind the UK average and in fact the town has seen a 10% percent increase with 15,500 jobs created.
The Centre for Cities report, entitled ‘Outlook 2015’, reveals that national growth between 2004 and 2013 was largely driven by only a handful of towns and cities, including Bournemouth, thanks to increasing populations, growth in the number of businesses, and the creation of thousands of new jobs.
The Leader of Bournemouth Council, Councillor John Beesley, said: “More jobs and growth in the local economy is welcome news. We have big ambitions for Bournemouth’s future and we strongly believe that we need to take the lead in building a better Bournemouth.
“Despite the considerable challenges of the recession we have been strategically investing in regeneration projects to attract inward investment, improving our transport network, supporting business start-ups and striving to retain graduate talent in the town to increase our skills base.
“As a Council we set out our aspirations for Bournemouth in the Town Centre Vision which has unlocked private sector investment in the area including the development of two Hilton Hotels and stimulated growth in the local economy. Over £150million of vision-related regeneration activity is already underway in the town. Much more is in the pipeline. Partnership and innovation, and above all an unwillingness to stand still, have been key to our success so far.”
Bournemouth is fast establishing itself as a lead in the creative and digital sector, with digital entertainment, digital media, advertising and games all thriving with the support of two business-focused Universities nurturing future world class talent. Home to a well-established financial services sector, Bournemouth also hosts the strategic operations or headquarters of a number of major financial companies including JP Morgan, Arthur J Gallagher, LV and AGEAS.
The highly skilled talent within Bournemouth’s workforce is revealed as 34% of the local population are recorded as having high level qualifications, 63% have five A* to C grades at GCSE level (including maths and English) and only 6.5% have no formal qualifications.
Bournemouth achieved a top ten ranking for the highest number of businesses per 10,000 population in 2013. Other interesting findings include the news that there were 50.2 business start-ups per 10,000 population in 2013, which ranks Bournemouth 19thnationally. For digital connections Bournemouth ranks 5thnationally for its high availability of super fast broadband and businesses will also soon be benefitting from worldwide transport connections as Bournemouth International Airport opens up access to global trade routes via new direct flights to Europe’s fourth largest airport, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
The Centre for Cities report compared the performance of the UK’s 64 largest cities and towns from 2004-2013. During this period when the economy initially expanded, before falling into recession during the financial crisis, the research revealed a dramatically widening gap between Britain’s best and worst performing cities and towns. For every 12 net new jobs created between 2004 and 2013 in cities in the South of England, only one was created in cities throughout the rest of Great Britain.
