People & skills

The key to the success of any business is the strength of its human resource and the value placed upon it. East Staffordshire’s strong industrial heritage has created a level of manufacturing expertise second to none. The new technology industries have brought training and development in different areas, resulting in the highly, and multi-skilled workforce the Borough has today.

Key strengths include:

• Within 45 minutes of Burton upon Trent there are over a million workers, with skills spread over a wide range of occupations.
  
  
• The median gross annual earnings (value below which 50 per cent of employees fall) of residents in East Staffordshire are £21,551 per annum. Annually this is just below the West Midlands, almost £1,200 below Staffordshire and £1,500 below Great Britain.
  
  
• East Staffordshire is well served by schools, with 51 Local Education Authority maintained and 6 private schools. In 2005, 61% of East Staffordshire pupils passed 5 or more GCSE's at grades A*-C compared to 54.5% of pupils at County and 57.1% at National level.
  
  
• There are 58,800 people employed in East Staffordshire, a rise of 22% between 1998 – 2004.
  
  
• There are 14 universities within 40 miles of Burton.
  
  
• Over two thirds (68.3%) of all East Staffordshire people aged 16-74 are economically active. This is higher than the rates for Staffordshire, the Midlands and Great Britain.