Date of the report
12 March 2009
Author of the report
West Midlands Regional Observatory (WMRO)
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 1 of the project. It will help inform, and will be supplemented by, findings from phase 2 and phase 3 (due to be completed by the end of May 2009).
Relevance to the region
Published data provides an initial picture of the importance of the environmental technologies sector to the regional economy. In 2006 (latest available figures) just over 30,000 people were employed in just over 1,500 businesses across the West Midlands. While the number of businesses has increased by 3% since 2003 numbers employed have fallen slightly by 0.2% over the period. Rates of employment growth have been uneven across the sector. While employment in waste collection and disposal increased by more than 1,100 between 2003 and 2006 there has been a decline of more than 2,600 in electricity, gas and water.
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
