ABSTRACT
The South West Region comprises the seven counties of Gloucestershire, Avon, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. It is generally regarded as prosperous by UK standards and as Table 2.3.1 confirms, ranks on average third in terms of the variety of economic indicators listed. The South East is certainly more prosperous in terms of most indicators but there is little difference between the South West and the region which normally ranks second, East Anglia. The South West is then part of the prosperous South but there are nevertheless great disparities between the prosperity of the areas adjacent to the South East in the north and east of the region and those of the far South West. In terms of nearly every economic indicator listed, Cornwall ranks worst of the seven counties in the region. Indeed, it currently has the lowest level of earnings of any county in great Britain and contains a number of the worst unemployment blackspots. The South West then has its own north-south problem, emphasising that for the UK in general the notion of a ‘prosperous’ South is an oversimplification. Economic Performance
|
Regional Rank SW/UK |
|
|---|---|
|
GDP per head 1989 |
3 |
|
Average weekly earnings 1991 |
|
|
Males |
5 |
|
Females |
2 |
|
Average Weekly Household Income per head (1989) |
2 |
|
Cars per 1000 population 1990 |
2 |
|
Unemployment March 1992 |
4 |
|
Economic Activity Rate 1989 |
|
|
Male |
9 |
|
Female |
6 |
|
New Buisiness Registrations 1980–1990/End 1979 stock |
3 |
|
% of Professional and Managerial Employees 1988 |
2 |
|
% of Self-employed 1990 |
3 |
