TheCity and County of Swansea is anurban centre with a largelyrural hinterland inGower; the city has been described as the regional centre forSouth West Wales.[1][2][3]Swansea'stravel to work area, not coterminous with the local authority, also contained theSwansea Valley in 1991; the new 2001-based version merges the Swansea,Neath & Port Talbot, andLlanelli areas into a newSwansea Bay travel to work area.[4]Formerly an industrial centre, most employment in the city is now in the service sector.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there were attempts to establish Swansea as a fashionableseaside resort.[5] Anengraving of the town in 1818 is described as showing a place which was "distinctly Arcadian, reminiscent of a landscape by Claude sprinkled with civilisedGeorgian architecture".[6]
However, the growth of themetallurgical industry was to transform the town. TheLower Swansea valley was a favourable area for industrial development because of the proximity ofSwansea's port, easy access tocoal deposits, and a supply of cheaplabour. Whilelead andzinc were also smelted in westGlamorgan, Swansea's signature industry wascopper. The firstcopper works was built atLandore in 1717.[7] Initiallycopper ore was imported fromCornwall,Cardiganshire andIreland, but by the 1820s Swansea was receiving shipments from as far afield asSouth America,Africa andAustralia. Thecopper industry reached a zenith in the 1880s, when the majority of copper ores imported to Britain were shipped to Swansea and local works employed around 3000 men at any given time.[8]
From the 1870s,tinplate also became a major local industry, pioneered by theSiemens works atLandore. Tinplate production stimulated the further expansion of Swansea port with the opening of the Prince of Walesdock, to be used mainly for tinplateexport, in 1882. The location of new tinplate works confirmed the steel industry's increasing preference for coastal sites near ports. However, the Welsh tinplate industry was dependent on exporting to the American market, and suffered serious implications from the imposition of theMcKinley tariff in 1890.[9]
By the end of theSecond World War the traditional local heavy industries were in decline, and althoughSwansea Bay emerged as a major centre of thepetroleum industry in the 1960s,[8] Swansea shared in the general trend towards apost-industrial,service sector economy. Today, the most important economic sectors in theCity and County of Swansea are: public administration, education and health (38.3% of local jobs); distribution, hotels and restaurants (24.2%); and banking, finance and insurance (19.9%). The high proportion ofpublic sectoremployment is common to Wales as a whole.[10]
Major employers in Swansea include manufacturing facilities operated by3M UK plc,Alberto-Culver, Bemis,International Rectifier, Morganite Electrical Carbon, and Pure Wafer. Major service sector employers includeAdmiral Insurance,Electronic Data Systems (EDS),NTL,BT Group,Conduit,Tesco andSouth West Wales Publications. Large public sector employers include theCity and County of Swansea council,Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency,HM Land Registry,Welsh Government,Department for Work and Pensions,Swansea University,University of Wales Trinity Saint David, andSwansea NHS Trust.[11]
In May 2008, 70.7% of Swansea's working-age residents were in employment. The largest single occupational group in Swansea is associate professional & technical occupations (comprising 14.3% of employment), although compared to the Welsh and UK averages the city also has large shares of administrative & secretarial occupations (12.9%) and sales & customer service occupations (11.2%).[10]
Employment in Swansea grew by 14,800 or 16.2% between 2001 and 2006, greater than equivalent increases in Wales and the UK as a whole. However, manufacturing employment in Swansea fell by 2,100 (-25.2%) between 2001 and 2006, a larger fall than recorded in Wales or the UK as a whole.[10]
The city is a centre of net in-commuting, with around 16,100 people making a daily journey outside the authority for work (principally to neighbouringNeath Port Talbot andCarmarthenshire) and 28,300 commuting in (again, mainly from Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire).[10] Swansea is part of theSwansea Baytravel to work area.
Surveys show that annual full-time gross median earnings for Swansea residents (£21,577) are lower than the UK average. The annual gross median earnings for those who work in Swansea are even lower, only £18,993. Similarly,gross value added (GVA) per head is relatively low in Swansea at £14,302.[10] However, lower earnings and GVA per head do not necessarily signify a major gap inliving standards because of differences in thecost of living andtransfer payments.[12]
Although some surveys place Swansea as the 18th-largestretail centre in the UK – a high placement considering the size of its population – in rankings ofshopping attractiveness and competitiveness, Swansea is usually placed outside the top 50, largely because of the low quality of thecity centre retail offer.[13]
A peculiarity of Swansea is the lack of employment in the city centre, relative to other towns and cities of similar size. Many major employers have moved to theEnterprise Park or other fringe locations. Only 4,510 office jobs are now[when?] located in the city centre, compared to 13,910 inCardiff. This reduces spend in the city centre economy and underpins the weakness of the local retail sector. Low demand prevents speculative development of new commercial premises, which has created avicious circle of city centre decline.[13]
In January 2008, developers were appointed to lead the regeneration of several major sites in the city centre and the waterfront. Proposals include 600,000 sq ft (56,000 m2) of additional retail space, 1,000 residential units and new leisure, office, hotel and conference facilities.[14] The regeneration programme will take an estimated 15 years.[15] TheWelsh Development Agency (and now theWelsh Government) have been promoting theSA1 Swansea Waterfront development on the edge of the city centre, intended to become a "lively, attractive waterfront destination... using an imaginative mix of land uses".[16] The WDA'sTechnium concept of incubator space forhigh technologyfirms (oftenspin outs from the local university) was launched at SA1, and additional facilities have now been constructed there and on theuniversity campus. The Assembly andIBM are supporting a new Institute ofLife Sciences at the university, which it is hoped will generate morehighly skilled,high value-added jobs.[17]
| Year | Regional gross value added |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 2,095 |
| 2000 | 2,536 |
| 2005 | 3,238 |
| Main commercial employers (excluding national retailers) | |
|---|---|
| Main public sector employers | |
| Companies with a local headquarters | |
| Retail | |
| Regeneration and development | |
| Tourism | |
| Industrial history | |
| Companies | |||||
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| Finance | |||||
| Banking |
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| Policy | |||||
| Localised | |||||
| People and labour | |||||
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| Theory |
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