Date of the report
March 2009
Author of the report
West Midlands Regional Observatory
Purpose of the report
The potential contribution environmental technologies such as renewable energy, pollution monitoring and waste management can make to the regional economy is an area of interest for a number of RSP partners, notably AWM, the LSC and local authorities. The Observatory has been commissioned to carry out research to identify:
- The relative importance of these industries to the regional economy and the profile of the workforce by gender, ethnicity, age and qualification attainment
- Key developments in the sector, potential market opportunities and drivers of skills change
- Current and potential labour and skill needs and any gaps and shortages
- Investment in training and upskilling by employers
- The use of publicly funded, private sector and internally run training and any gaps or weaknesses in provision
- Recommendations and actions to address any issues identified
The project has three key phases:
- Phase 1 – a review of secondary sources of data and analysis
- Phase 2 – quantitative survey of businesses
- Phase 3 – qualitative research to include face to face interviews with businesses and the development of case studies
This report highlights key messages from phase 2 of the project. It will help inform, and will be supplemented by, findings from phase 3 (due to be completed by the end of May 2009).
Relevance to the region
This report discusses the West Midlands region in terms of:
- Workforce profile
- Business conditions
- Employment, skills and training
What SWM liked
We like the clear way in which data which presented in graphs and tables and that the report is specific to the West Midlands region.
Links and Contact information
For further information contact enquiries@swm.org.uk
