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South West a honeypot for skilled workers
With 51.7 per cent of the workforce classified as highly skilled, Bristol’s boasts the 11th highest proportion of all major UK towns and cities.
A new report by NatWest has shown a 14.5 per cent rise in the number of highly skilled workers in the South West, a term that describes professions such as doctors, nurses, teachers, managers, accountants and lawyers.
Of the 11 regions surveyed, only London posted a larger rise. Growth has been fuelled by Bristol, Cheltenham and Bath, which all have higher concentrations of highly skilled workers than the UK average.
NatWest’s Regional Economic Tracker also indicated growth in the number of jobs termed as ‘medium skilled’, such as care workers, bookkeepers, teaching assistants, electricians, plumbers and builders – up 4.8 per cent – and a 4 per cent fall in the number of low skilled workers, retail assistants, cleaners, lorry drivers, waiters and call centre staff, for example.
That is largely thought to reflect the effect of technology on the labour market as robot tills replace check-out staff and machines improve efficiency.
The tracker monitors employment levels in 12 UK regions and posts quarterly reports on job growth.
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