Statistics, Facts & Figures
Economy
It has been estimated that the economy of Greater Cambridge generated output to the value of around £12bn in 2001. Since then, the number of jobs in the area has increased by approximately 5000 per annum and the employment rate is stable, high and rising compared to the UK average.
Job Seekers Allowance claimant rates are significantly below the national average and have been steadily decreasing.
The knowledge-based sectors provide around a third of the employment in the Greater Cambridge area. Approximately 1400 high-tech related organisations employ nearly 43,000 people.¹
Levels of high-tech employment across the area have platueued in recent years with marginal falls in employment since 2002. Some commentators put this down to the cluster maturing.
The post-2000 downturn in the global technology market saw a dip in investment levels across the UK and Europe. The Greater Cambridge area weathered the technology investment storm better than the UK as a whole and in the first half of 2007, the Cambridge cluster attracted 18% of all Venture Capital Investment in the UK.²
The GCP is working hard to continually strengthen the competitiveness of the high-tech economy; one initiative is supporting local high-tech businesses to access Olympic contracts for the upcoming 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
People and Skills
Reflecting the growing appeal and economic strength of the area, the local population is increasing rapidly.
In 2005 an estimated 755,000 people lived in the area.
The average skill levels across the Greater Cambridge area broadly match those of Great Britain as a whole.
The proportion of the working population with qualifications, particularly at NVQ level 4 and above, is steadily increasing, which supports the region’s strengths in the knowledge-based economy.
There are significant disparities between and within districts that still need to be tackled.
The population of Fenland, the rural district to the north of Cambridge, have lower levels of qualifications than other districts within Greater Cambridge.
Place
The 2003 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Structure Plan (link) makes provision for an additional 47,500 homes to be built between 1999 and 2016. One of the greatest challenges we and our partners face as a consequence is ensuring the quality of life for existing and new communities in the area is improved. A buoyant housing market has raised house prices across the area causing some issues of affordability, particularly for first time buyers. The graph below shows how the ratio of house price to salary is much higher in Cambridge (approximately 9) than in Fenland (approximately 6).
The Structure Plan has a target that 40% or more of new housing built in the sub-region between 2001 and 2016 should be affordable housing. The graph below demonstrates the percentage of new houses built across the sub-region that are designated ‘affordable homes’.
The proportion of affordable homes built, doubled from 2001 to 2006.
Cambridgeshire Horizons (link), the organisation responsible for driving the growth agenda in the sub-region to 2016, worked with a range of partners to develop a Green Infrastructure Strategy (link) and to secure public and private sector funding for its implementation. The vision for the strategy is to enhance the diversity of landscape character; connect and enrich biodiversity habitats, and extend access and recreation opportunities.³
Download the full Greater Cambridge Annual Profile 2007
¹ CCC Research Group, 2006 ‘Employment in the high-tech community in Cambridgeshire
and Peterborough’. Cambridgeshire County Council, UK
² Library House (2007) The Cambridge Cluster Report 2007. Library House: Cambridge, UK
³ The Landscape Partnership (2006) Quality of Life Programme, Green Infrastructure Strategy,
Cambridgeshire Horizons
