Dramatic new economic growth figures just released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that Worcestershire’s economy grew by 16.82% between 2008 and 2013.
This represents an annual average growth of 3.21% against a national average of 2.43% and ranks Worcestershire’s LEP area as the third highest performing region in England.
Only Oxfordshire with a figure of 4.24% and London at 3.44% were higher performing areas with Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire being the only other two areas to exceed 3%.
“This is great news for Worcestershire and rewards not only the efforts of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership since its inception, but particularly those of our business community and the local authorities of our county over the full five years,” said Peter Pawsey, Executive Chair of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership.
“Whilst a lot has been done – there is still much to do and we recognise the massive further potential across the County. We will continue to work with businesses and partner organisations for the long term prosperity of Worcestershire, raising its profile regionally, nationally and internationally as a world class place to do business.”
News of this economic growth comes on top of recently reported fourfold growth in apprenticeship numbers across the county over the past 3 years, during which unemployment and claimant numbers have also tumbled to levels not seen since 2007 standing at 1.4% in January 2015 compared with 2.5% for the West Midlands.
Private sector investment in developments and job creation across Worcestershire has also topped £600 million in less than 3 years, with much more in the pipeline.
