Supporting documents - Renfrewshire Council

Proposed Mixed Use Development, Braehead: Socio-Economic Impact Report
Economic Context
3.4 The residential population of the local area in 2010 amounted to 763,100 of
which 170,300 were resident in Renfrewshire (22.3%). 1 The population of
Renfrewshire in 2001 was 172,900 and has fallen slightly by 2,600 people
(1.5%) in the period 2001-2010; this compares with the positive growth rate for
Scotland and Great Britain of 3.1% and 5.3% respectively. 2
3.5 Total employment in the labour catchment area fell by 19,340 (4.1%) in the
period 2001-2011 (Table 3, Appendix 1). The greatest decrease in the
percentage of employment was in Renfrewshire (11.6%) followed by Glasgow
City with a decrease of 9,831 people (2.5%).
3.6 The employment structure of the labour catchment area is dominated by the
service sector, which accounts for 87.9% (at 2011) of employment, a rise of 3%
from 2001. However, this growth is below the average for Great Britain at
approximately 4.6% over the same time period (Table 4, Appendix 1). Despite
an increase in the proportion of service sector workers in the labour catchment
area, (largely due to the workforce of other sectors shrinking) the quantity of
service sector employees actually fell by 2,546 (0.6%) between 2001 and
2011. Within the service sector, the retail sector accounts for 13.5% of total
employment, this is lower than the Scotland (“Regional”) and GB averages
(14.7% and 16.1% respectively). Health (15.7%), property and business
activities (14.6%) and financial intermediation (12.1%) represent the three
other largest sectors of employment.
3.7 The most significant sector decline in employment terms has been
manufacturing which decreased by 37.5% in the period 2001-2011, reducing its
share of the workforce from 9.2% to 6% (Table 4 and 5, Appendix 1). Public
administration and defence experienced an 18.8% decline in employment, from
7.7% of the workforce in 2001 to 6.5% in 2011. This reflects the trend for
Scotland as a whole with a national decline in manufacturing of 41.2% in the
same period; however public administration saw a much smaller decrease in
the proportion of its workforce at 5.5%. The fastest growth sector was financial
and insurance, scientific and technical (57.2%) increasing its share of the
workforce from 6.7% to 12.1%, this is however well below the average for
Scotland which saw an increase of 103.5% in the same period. Although
employment within wholesale and retail trades fell by 12.8% within the local
area over the last decade, nationally this sector experienced a decline in
employment of 15.2%.
3.8 In the period 1997-2007, the number of VAT-registered firms increased by
13.7% across the labour catchment as a whole, a similar rate to Scotland
(15.5%) but below the average for Great Britain (21.3%). The growth rate in
Renfrewshire alone was 17.3% (Table 6, Appendix 1).
1 Mid-year population estimates, ONS
2 Does not account for regional boundary changes
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