Monmouthshire’s people are the best qualified in Wales and the County ranks second in Wales for competitiveness according to the UK Competitiveness Index. We’re also the second in Wales for knowledge based industries. But wages in the county remain amongst the lowest in Wales and rank 333rd in the UK.
The UK Competitiveness Index is published by The Centre for International Competitiveness, which focuses on researching and exploring the competitiveness of economies and businesses.
The main data is as follows:
- Monmouthshire’s overall ranking out of 379 UK LA areas is 160. This means we are the second most competitive area in Wales overall, behind Cardiff
- Monmouthshire is 333rd for full-time weekly median pay
- No. 84 in UK and 4th in Wales for the number of businesses per 1000 inhabitants
- No. 49 in UK and 1st in Wales for % of working age population with NVQ4 or higher qualifications
- No. 151 and 2nd highest in Wales for knowledge based businesses
Commenting on the news, Cllr Bob Greenland, MCC’s Cabinet Member for Economy, Enterprise and Communications, said:
“In the main this is good news. Monmouthshire is clearly punching above its weight in Wales and I look forward to a time in the not too distant future when we’re ranked so highly in UK terms, rather than Wales alone. But our low wages remain a concern. There is a myth that Monmouthshire is a wealthy county – our principal industries remain low paid. So we need to improve that and also to bring in high quality jobs. That’s what our recent back 2 business week was about and that’s why we’ve formed a partnership with venture Wales to give our local economy the boost that our citizens deserve.”
