Companies and Talent Investing in Bristol
Known for being the most colourful city in the UK, and fast becoming one of the most desirable locations to live, 
Bristol also accounts for a quarter of the South West’s economy. According to the Huawei UK Smart Cities Index11 Bristol is also the UK’s “Smartest City”, beating London into second place. Along with these accolades Bristol has also been awarded UNESCO48 City of Film status-enhancing the city’s growing reputation as a centre for the film industry.
Established businesses in the aeronautics, manufacturing and financial services sectors have also been playing their part in the local economy and continue to be major employers in the region over many years. More recently technology, telecommunications, utilities and creative industries have been attracted to the region and have established a firm presence creating many new employment opportunities across all types of disciplines and roles.
Top 10 industries for rising salaries
Key industries across the UK saw a rise in salaries, with the charity (8.3%), automotive (5%) and engineering (1.2%) sectors being just some of the top sectors that proved to stay strong last quarter. It has become apparent that organisations are working hard to offer competitive packages in order to attract the right candidates into their businesses.
Productivity Levels Down with a Need for Investment
However, UK productivity, the key driver for economic growth, remains poor compared to the G7 and has not grown significantly over the last couple of years. In its most recent report, the Office for National Statistics puts UK productivity about 20% below the G7 average and at least 10% behind Italy, the USA, France and Germany.
Businesses need to continue to invest properly in their workforce and the opportunity with the new Government-backed apprenticeship levy will offer access to greater opportunity for the next generation, more choice across skills and ultimately help shape the UK to become a future nation of highly skilled workers.
A report in the Guardian last year stated: “Four million jobs in the British private sector could be replaced by robots in the next decade, according to business leaders asked about the future of automation and artificial intelligence.” An example of how this works, in reality, is at the world’s first Automated Retail Distribution Centre at the new £100 million Asda facility in Warrington. Staggering to think that this warehouse is 97% automated with a 600 strong workforce working alongside robotic technology to process around four million cases per week, serving 140 Asda stores across the North of England and beyond. Is this the future we can expect and will see across all sectors?
In the recent UK Autumn Budget, the Chancellor spoke about “An economy driven by innovation that will see the UK becoming a world leader in new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), immersive technology, driverless cars, life sciences, and FinTech.
Among the initiatives are a range of investments for new technologies like AI and 5G that add up to over £500 million; wider tax breaks and other schemes to bring more investment into the sector; thereby building the foundations to create a strong technology sector in the UK.
Any economy that creates more highly-skilled and better-paid jobs, underpinned by increased investment in those skills and infrastructure needed will build a future and a stronger economy that works for everyone.
Bristol named one of the UK’s fastest growing cities
A number of firms in the Professional Services sectors have either opened offices in Bristol over the last six months or announced their intentions to increase their presence in the city. The public and private sectors are still investing in the city. The University of Bristol announced a significant investment in a new Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre; UWE opened its new state of the art business centre and the West of England (LEP and Combined Authority) is to invest £10m in the Institute of Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems project. Ecotricity is to open a tech hub in Bristol that will be launched in 2018. Creating a tax authority that is “fit for the future” the HM Revenue and Customs have formally signed an agreement to lease a building in Temple Back, Bristol where c. 1,250 will move into the offices from 2019. Some of the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence were among new investors to put $30m into the Bristol-based chip start-up Graphcore last year.
We continue to see significant traction in the recruitment sector as businesses are attracted to all that Bristol has to offer and as a result, have ongoing requirements for particular skills and qualifications in their particular field. Employment is showing an increase and the number of job applications has risen driven by the increase in salaries and opportunities to work with businesses across multiple sectors.
According to EY’s UK Regional Economic Forecast, Bristol is expected to grow faster than London’s 2.2% and the UK average of 1.8%.
Those factors combined with the draw of the city itself has increased the available talent pool with Bristol now set to firmly be one of the UK’s fastest growing cities over the next three years.
At Alexander Mae, we are focused on recruiting the highest calibre of candidates for our clients and working with our candidates to ensure each person is placed in the right role. If you are interested in any of our vacancies or have roles you need to fill please email [email protected] or ph: 0117 9055035
