Wales
Blue collar employment
Key points
- While the total number of jobs has been rising, the number of jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries is lower than a decade ago.
- Two-fifths of full-time male jobs are in production industries, compared to one is eight full-time female jobs and one in twenty part-time jobs.
- Manufacturing, construction and other production industries are the areas which are dominated by full-time male jobs.
- Just about all local authority areas have lost jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries since 1998.
- The increase in total jobs combined with the fall in manufacturing, construction and other production jobs has occurred throughout the UK.
- There are two parts of Wales where a high proportion of residents work in manufacturing industry. Almost all of the small local areas within the six local authorities in the Valleys – from Neath Port Talbot in the west, to Torfaen in the east – are ones in which at least 21% of those with jobs work in manufacturing. Many of these – chiefly in Blaenau Gwent as well as parts of Caerphilly, Bridgend (which is not counted here as part of the Valleys), Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda, Cynon, Taff – have more than 27% working in manufacturing.
- The other part of Wales with a high dependence on manufacturing jobs is the North East – Wrexham and Flintshire. As with the Valleys, most small local areas here have more than 21% of those with jobs working manufacturing while some, especially around Wrexham itself and Flint, have more than 27% working in that sector.
- Apart from the Valleys and the North East, there are few pockets of high dependence. These include around Newtown (Powys), Llanelli and Ammanford (Carmarthenshire), Pembroke, and Holyhead (Isle of Anglesey).
- Notable for the complete absence of high dependence on manufacturing are Cardiff and (with some exceptions) Swansea. This does not mean that these areas do not have residents who work in manufacturing but rather that those who do form a relatively small proportion of the people with jobs living in the area.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: By gender
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Graph 3: By industry
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Graph 4: By LA
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Graph 5: Compared to GB
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Definitions and data sources
The first graph shows total number of jobs over time, with the data broken down into four overall sectors, namely: manufacturing, construction and other production industries (sec codes A-F); wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants (sec codes G-H); finance and other business activities (sec codes I-K); and public sector and other community services (sec codes L-Q).
The second graph shows, for the latest year, the proportion of jobs that are in each of the four sectors for each of full-time male employees, full-time female employees and part-time employees (both sexes combined).
The third graph shows, for the latest year, how the total number of jobs in each sector is divided between full-time male jobs, full-time female jobs and part-time jobs (both sexes combined).
The fourth graph shows how the number of jobs in manufacturing, construction and other production industries (industry codes A-F) has changed over time by local authority. To improve its statistical reliability, data has been averaged across three-year periods with the comparison being between 1998-2000 and 2004-2006.
The fifth graph shows, for each region in the UK and each sector, the change in jobs between 1997 and 2007. These changes are shown as a proportion of the total jobs in each region in 1997.
For all bar the fourth graph, the data includes both employed people and self-employed people (self-employment data not being available by local authority). For self-employment, the data source in all the graphs is the Labour Force Survey. For employment: the data source for the first graph is Labour Market Statistics; that for the second, third and fourth graphs is the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) obtained via the Nomis website; and that for the fifth graph is Labour Market Statistics (Great Britain) and DETI (Northern Ireland). All the employment data relates to the location of the jobs themselves rather than to where the people doing these jobs live.
Note that there are some uncertainties about the results in the fourth graph, partly because the numbers move around a lot from year to year and partly because of some methodological discontinuities between years. Also note that the first ABI survey was in 1998 and the data refers to the jobs available within each area rather than the jobs performed by the people who live there. In principle, a longer time series could have been used by stitching together the Annual Business Inquiry and its predecessor, the Annual Employment Survey (AES). In practice, however, this is not possible because the two surveys use different methods of calculation which give rather different answers at geographic levels below that of Great Britain. Such discrepancies are discussed in the ONS report of their ABI/AES reconciliation project, which recognised the extent of this problem.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. Labour Market Statistics are an authoritative source but are subject to substantial revisions from time to time.