2.7.19 Skills are important drivers of productivity, both directly in terms of adding to individual performance and, indirectly, by enabling individuals to adopt a more flexible and adaptable approach to work which may facilitate the development of innovative ideas and practices. Boddy (op cit 2006) reports a strong association between high levels of medium and higher level skills and higher levels of productivity. In addition, low educational attainment and skills levels were found to have a negative influence on productivity. The appropriate balance of skills within the labour force is important to ensure that the needs of employers are met and the skills of the labour force are being fully utilised.
2.7.20 This chapter considers both formal qualifications and job-related training as indicators of labour force skills. A more detailed analysis of skills can be found in the Skills and Learning INSERT LINK chapter.
2.7.21 Qualifications: In 2009, South West working age individuals outperformed the national average across all NVQ levels apart from for those holding an NVQ4+ qualification (England 29.6% vs. South West 29.1%). The national average is, however, strongly influenced by London (39.7%) and the South East (32.6%) and when considering other regions, the South West had the third highest rate for NVQ4+ achievement. In addition, the region has a relatively low rate of working age individuals with no qualifications (8.7% compared to a national average of 12.1%).
2.7.22 Sub-regionally, high educational attainment is concentrated in the north east of the region – Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire all had proportions of working age individuals with NVQ4+ above the regional and national averages – see Figure 2.7.3. Swindon (23.1%) and Cornwall, Plymouth and Torbay (all 24.2%) recorded the lowest rates in the region. As these estimates are resident based there will be a commuting effect influencing the data, for example, highly qualified people working in urban areas such as Plymouth and Swindon may live in the surrounding areas.
Figure 2.7.3 Percentage of Working Age Individuals with NVQ4+ Qualifications 2009
Percentage of Working Age Individuals with NVQ4+ Qualifications 2009 [Fig 2.7.3]. Contains OS Data; Source: ONS.
2.7.23 On the face of it, the region performs fairly strongly on educational attainment, yet qualifications are also considered an important factor in explaining the productivity gap with London. This is partly due to the lower proportion of individuals with NVQ4+ compared with London but additionally there may be an element of under utilisation of skills and mismatching to employment opportunities. This may be a rational choice by individuals but, where not, it could be addressed through employment led training.
2.7.24 Job-related Training: In the South West, 10.1% of working age individuals received job-related training in the four weeks preceding the Annual Population Survey period (Jan-Dec 2009) compared to a national average of 9.5%.This was the third highest of the English regions behind the South East (10.4%) and North West (10.0%). The proportions have declined both regionally and nationally since 2004, but the rate of decline has been slightly slower in the South West and, as a result, the regional rate increased from 0.4 to 0.6 percentage points above the national rate over the time period. The pattern is similar when based on a measure of training during the preceding 13 weeks of the survey - between April and March 2009 the SW average was 1.6 percentage points higher than nationally.
2.7.25 Mirroring the national trends, working age females in the region are more likely to receive job-related training than males. Regardless of gender, those in managerial/professional occupations and those holding higher level qualifications (NVQ4+) are more likely than average to have received job related training. This implies that those who have already acquired skills/qualifications may be more inclined to consolidate and build on these in the workplace.
2.7.26 Over a fifth (22%) of working age individuals employed in the public sector in the South West received job-related training (Jan-Dec 2009) - this compares to 8.7% in the production sector and 10.6% in the private sector. As training benefits both the firm and the individual, some private sector firms may feel unable to capture the full value of their investment and it may lead them to provide less job-related training.
2.7.27 Sub-regionally, Torbay recorded the highest percentage of its working age population receiving job-related training in the preceding four weeks (12.9%), closely followed by Wiltshire (12.5%). Swindon and Cornwall had the lowest rates: 7.7% and 8.0% respectively. Over the survey period, Torbay had the highest regional percentage of individuals receiving job-related training in private services (14.3%) and the public sector (30.3%). Given its comparatively low level of NVQ4+ attainment, this data suggests Torbay businesses have struggled to recruit employees with the required level of skills and have thus had to invest relatively heavily in job-related training to effectively upskill their staff. This mismatch of skills and jobs is likely to be one of the factors behind Torbay’s weak productivity performance.
