| Buckinghamshire has a working age population of 294,000 and unemployment at 1.4%. Around 244,000 people work in the County and there are some 20,000 (8% of resident workers) out-commuting to jobs in other towns in the region. |
| The County is noted for its high skill levels – over a third of the population hold a qualification at degree level or higher, compared to only 25% across the county as a whole. |
| Buckinghamshire is also very highly ranked in terms of the population who are economically active, with a recent “Local Futures” report ranking the County 5th in the country as a whole, with rates in excess of 80%. |
| “Business density (measured by the number of firms per 1000 population) is high compared to the South East and Great Britain. Buckinghamshire has 63.5 businesses per 1000 population, whilst the averages for the South East and Great Britain are 43.6 and 37.3 businesses per 1000 population respectively. South Buckinghamshire has the highest number of business, 75 per 1000 population. |
| Levels of entrepreneurship – as measured by the number of new business registrations as a proportion of the existing stock – are average, 10.6 per cent compared to 10.7 per cent nationally. The business survival rate is, however, slightly higher than the national average, 82.2 per cent compared to 79.3 per cent nationally. |
| Reflecting employment trends, the proportion of businesses in Buckinghamshire operating in the knowledge economy is relatively high. In 2003, 42.2 per cent of businesses were in the knowledge-driven sectors, compared to 37.1 per cent in the South East and 30.8 per cent in Great Britain. The growth rate in Buckinghamshire of knowledge-driven businesses was relatively low between 1998-2003; 20.2 per cent compared to a growth rate of 31.9 per cent in the South East and 22.1 per cent nationally. The highest growth rates in the knowledge-driven sectors were in Aylesbury Vale, 31.7 per cent between 1998-2003.” |
| Local Futures – The State of the County: An Economic, Social and Environmental Audit of Buckinghamshire |
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