Workforce Overview
Ashford is characterised by a stable, skilled workforce with an
historic level of low unemployment, and is poised for the creation
of 28,000 jobs.
The planned growth of Ashford will greatly expand the labour
market potential. This expansion will be coupled with greatly
enhanced opportunities for skill development with the establishment
of the Ashford Learning Campus.
The table below indicates the nature of the current
workforce.
|
Population |
Currently at 111,000 and it is set to grow by approximately
2,000 a year providing an expanding pool of labour to
prospective investors.
Already business and employment growth rates in the district have
exceeded population growth. Ashford’s population grew by an
estimated 12% between 1998 and 2005, more than twice the rate of
growth for Kent as a whole (5%).
|
|
Economically active workforce |
46,000 employment in Ashford has risen by 22% between 1998 and
2005 compared with 17% in the Kent County Council area and 10%
across the South East as a whole.
|
| Access
to potential employees within a drive time distance |
20 minutes – 69,738
40 minutes –
534,341
60 minutes – 1,207,335
|
|
Employment Rate for working age people in Ashford |
81% - significantly higher than Kent or the South
East. |
| Labour
costs |
20% less than London, Ashford has one of the lowest
workplace-based average gross weekly earnings figure in Kent and
Medway.
|