Wirral Economy

A combination of available sites, excellent connections and a ready workforce combine to create huge economic potential in Wirral. The area can boast a range of unique latent and untapped assets which underpin a dynamic new vision for the future.

In today’s knowledge driven economy, recruitment shortages and a lack of skilled personnel are often one of the biggest stumbling blocks to getting new enterprises off the ground. In Wirral there is a large available workforce, and a potential pool of 56,000 highly qualified residents who currently travel outside the area to seek better paid work. Huge scale regeneration and business expansion, leading to the creation of higher value jobs, will help reverse this migration.

Wirral’s economic potential is evidenced by:

• Office of National Statistics data shows Wirral has the largest gross disposable income per head in Merseyside at £12,876, higher than the UK average.
• Close to one million people reside within a 40 minute peak hour commute of Wirral.
• A current job density rate of 0.61 means that for every 100 residents there are 61 jobs available.
• 64.5% of residents in the catchment are of working age, which is slightly above regional levels.
• A young population, with 16 to 24 year-olds accounting for 15.9% of the population, compared to 15.2% regionally and 14.1% nationally. In total, more than  a third (34.1%) of the workforce is aged 20 to 34 years against 31.2% regionally and 31.9% nationally.
• The dominance of small/medium enterprises (SMEs) and a smaller proportion of VAT registered businesses per 10,000 of the population in Wirral at 175, compared to regional (253) and national (303) rates.