Market Profile Scotland - Amazon S3 · Scotland is committed to generating an equivalent of 100% of electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020, along with at least 11% renewable

Market ProfileScotland

Contents

Overview of Scotland

The Seven Cities of Scotland

Summary

Youth Employment/Unemployment in Scotland

Currently 345,000 young people in employment up by 9,000 over the year (Sep-Nov 2014)

Scotland outperforms the UK on youth employment, youth unemployment and youth inactivity rates – higher youth employment rate (56.3% vs. 52.2%), lower youth unemployment rate (16.4% vs. 17.4%) and lower youth inactivity rate (32.7% vs. 36.8%).

Of the age groups, those aged 16-24 have the highest unemployment rate - 17,790 young people aged 16-24 were on the claimant count in December 2014, a decrease of 8,830 (33.2%) over the year.

The population of Scotland has increased each year since 2001 and is now at its highest ever. National Records of Scotland (NRS) show that the estimated population of Scotland was 5,327,700 in mid-2014.

Population change in Scotland is determined by three key elements:

• Birth rates

• Life expectancy

• Net migration

These are, in turn, influenced by a combination of factors, including the relative levels of economic prosperity and opportunity, quality of life and the provision of key public services.

The number of people in employment in Scotland has increased by 50,000 over the past year, reaching a record high of 2,612,000 as recent GDP figures show the fastest annual growth since 2007.


Demographics

Main industries of Scotland include:

Agriculture, Banking & Finance, Computing, Construction, Defence, Electronics, Emergency Services, Fishing, Food & Drink, Forestry, Life Sciences, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Shipbuilding, Textile, Tourism and Transport.

The Scottish economy has now seen two years of continuous economic growth, with the pace of expansion particularly vigorous in the first half of 2014.

At a sectoral level, services’ is leading the pack but production output has also continued expanding to edge above pre-recession levels.

The Scottish labour market has continued to benefit from the strength in demand. Solid jobs growth has increased employment and helped push down the headline unemployment rate towards its pre-crisis average.

Moreover, participation rates have hovered around record highs, reflecting a rise in women entering the workforce. These trends have exerted upwards pressure on nominal wage growth which, combined with benign inflation, has resulted in the first (modest) growth in real wages since 2008.


Economy of ScotlandScotland currently has the highest employment rate, lowest unemployment rate and lowest inactivity rate of all four UK nations.

Key Facts (January 2015):

• The level of unemployment has fallen by 20,000 over the year and by 79,000 since its recession peak in 2010.

• The Scottish unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent remains below the overall UK rate, with Scotland also having a higher employment rate and lower economic inactivity rate.

• The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance has fallen by 24.9 per cent over the year.

• More women in employment than ever before and jobseekers allowance claimants at its lowest level since 2008.

• Over the past four and half years employment has risen by 167,000 and unemployment has fallen by 61,000.

• The sharpest increase in new jobs was in Aberdeen, with Edinburgh the top city for part-time and temporary work last month (January 2015).

• The IT and computing sector had the biggest increase in new jobs, while nursing and medical care work was the fastest growing for temporary jobs.

Scotland is one of the world’s top exporting nations

Scotland’s top international export destinations are the U.S.A. (at £3.6 billion), The Netherlands (at £2.7 billion), France (at £2.2 billion), Germany (at £1.5 billion) and Norway (at £920 million). Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Denmark all receive over £500 million of Scottish exports.

Top Five Export Sectors

The top five export sectors in 2013 were food and drink (£5bn), petroleum and chemicals (£3.5bn), professional services (£1.9bn), machinery (£1.8bn) and computers/electronics (£1.4bn). Four of these sectors have seen increases in international sales since 2002; for example, the value of ‘legal, accounting, architecture, technical testing and analysis services’ exports has increased by 140%, or £1.1bn, since 2002. Food and drink saw an increase in international sales of £2.2bn, or 81%, since 2002, with most of this increase due to a £2.0bn increase in whisky sales.


Scotland has a very good global reputation and brand

Productivity is crucial to Scotland’s sustainable economic growth

Scotland has some key competitive advantages from its academic excellence and skills base to its business infrastructure and natural assets. Scotland is a country rich in opportunity and bursting with innovation, with many competitive qualities that make it an attractive place to do business, invest, learn, live and work.

Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco products

Between 2002 and 2013 the manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco products industry exports have increased by 81% and now is worth around £5bn.

Distilling, rectifying and blending of spirit

Between 2002 and 2013 the distilling, rectifying and blending of spirits industry exports have increased by 86% and now is worth around £4.3bn.

Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum and chemical products

Between 2002 and 2013 the manufacture of coke, refined petroleum and chemical products industry exports have increased by 74% and now is worth around £3.5bn.

Machinery and equipment

Between 2002 and 2013 the machinery and equipment industry exports have increased by 131% and now is worth around £1.8bn.

Legal, accounting, management, architecture, engineering, technical testing and analysis activities

Between 2002 and 2013 the legal, accounting, management, architecture, engineering, technical testing and analysis activities industry exports have increased by 140% and now is worth around £1.9bn.


Top Five Export Sectors

Scotland boasts world-class industries including:

Energy

Scotland is at the forefront of innovation in the energy industry. Diverse and vibrant, the Scottish energy industry enjoys a reputation for world-class research, development and production in a number of energy sectors including: Oil & Gas, Wind, Marine, Carbon Capture & Storage, Smart Grids, Fuel Cells and Bio-Energy.

Over the next years leading to 2020, renewables in Scotland could provide:

• upto40,000jobsand£30binvestmenttotheScottisheconomy

• significantdisplacementandreductionincarbonemissions;astrengtheningof future energy security through the harnessing of sustainable indigenous resources

• andatransformationalopportunityforlocalownershipandbenefits.

Scotland is committed to generating an equivalent of 100% of electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020, along with at least 11% renewable heat.

Scotland’s 100% renewables target is the most ambitious in the European Union

Scotland’s overall share of renewable energy will be at least 30% by 2020. This exceeds the EU’s 2020 renewable energy target of 20% and will be double the UK’s agreed EU target of 15%. In reaching 30% renewable energy by 2020, Scotland’s target is on a par with that for Denmark (30%), Portugal (31%), and considerably higher than Germany (18%), Ireland (16%), Spain (20%) and France (23%).

Offshore wind represents the biggest opportunity for sustainable economic growth in Scotland

The large scale development of offshore wind represents the biggest opportunity for sustainable economic growth in Scotland for a generation, potentially supporting up to 28,000 directly related jobs and a further 20,000 indirect jobs and generating up to £7 billion for the Scottish economy by 2020.


Major Industries of Scotland

Life Sciences

Scotland’s life sciences sector is set to double economic contribution by 2020.

Some 600 life-sciences organisations employ nearly 30,000 people, making Scotland one of the largest life-sciences clusters in Europe. Scotland is home to a thriving biocluster, providing the ideal environment for innovation and company growth.

Scotland already has a world-class reputation in stratified medicine and boasts the cutting-edge Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre in Glasgow, while a stem cell industry cluster continues to develop around the Edinburgh-based Centre for

Regenerative Medicine. In addition, a new innovation centre for industrial biotechnology is forecast to increase related turnover by £3 billion over the next 15 years and could create up to 1,500 jobs before 2020.

Financial and Business Services

Scotland’s Financial and Business Services industry was identified in the Government Economic Strategy as one of the growth sectors in which Scotland can build on existing comparative advantage and

increase productivity and growth. Scotland is internationally recognised as the most important UK financial centre outside London and the South East, with a breadth of financial services including

global custody, asset servicing, banking, investment management, corporate finance, general / life assurance and pensions. Business service is also a crucial sector for Scotland, having

grown in recent years to comprise a large and diverse range of professional services.


Food and Drink

The food and drink industry is a major contributor to Scotland’s economy with one in five people in manufacturing working in the sector.

The food and drink sector in the Highlands and Islands contributes £1 billion to the economy. The region is renowned for producing high quality food and drink products. Businesses range from large global enterprises through to specialist niche producers, supporting some 32,000 jobs.

Scotch whisky is worth more than £5bn to the UK economy

Distillers spread from the lowlands of Scotland to as far north as Kirkwall in Orkney and directly employ 10,900 people, but they also support a further 30,000 jobs through the supply chain. The figures make whisky the third biggest industry in Scotland, behind energy and financial services, comprising about 70% of the entire Scottish food and drink sector. The industry dwarfs tourism and the creative sector and is nearly three times the size of Scotland’s digital or life science industries.

Tourism

Scotland’s tourism industry could be worth more than £23 billion to the economy by 2025

The tourism sector is of vital importance to the Scottish economy - latest figures indicate total overnight and day visitor expenditure in Scotland was around £9 billion in 2014.

Spending by tourists in Scotland generates £10 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes £5 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents just fewer than 5% of total Scottish GDP.

Employment in the tourism-related industries sector (as measured by the Scottish Government’s Tourism Growth Sector) in Scotland was 211,200 in 2013 – accounting for around 8.5% of employment in Scotland.

The industry currently supports over 292,000 jobs, which equates to 10.9% of all jobs.


The Seven Cities of Scotland include:

• Aberdeen

• Dundee

• Edinburgh

• Glasgow

• Inverness

• Perth

• Stirling

Positioning Scotland’s seven cities as hi-tech economic hubs will deliver results for the whole of Scotland

11.1m (€15m) has been set aside within the Scottish European Regional Development Fund Programme for 2014-2020 to make Scotland’s cities smarter, using new technologies to accelerate and transform the delivery of city services.


Aberdeen the Energy Rich Town - Oil and Gas Capital of Europe

The oil and gas industry is a very important part of the Scottish economy. It is concentrated mainly in the Aberdeen area - the “oil capital of Europe” - but is also important in other areas such as Shetland, the Cromarty Firth and Fife.

The direct employment in the oil and gas industry in Scotland is currently (end 2014) about 56,500.

Aberdeen is a very affluent city where unemployment is only a little over 2% and incomes are well above the Scottish average. In Aberdeenshire some 38% of households have an income of more than £30,000, compared to 28% across Scotland and just 19% in Glasgow.

Aberdeenshire’s economy is closely linked to Aberdeen City’s. In 2014 the region was estimated to have contributed 12% to Scotland’s total GDP. For 2013-14 the Shetland Isles were forecast to have had the highest rate of growth amongst Scottish local authorities. Aberdeen City is forecast to have had the second highest growth rate and Aberdeenshire the third.

Aberdeen currently has one of the UK’s fastest growing airports outside of London with the volume of passengers increasing by 37% since 2003 (in comparison to growth of 14% across all UK airports).


Aberdeen

Total employment in Aberdeenshire is estimated at 131,000 employeesThe majority of employees work within the service sector, predominantly in public administration, education and health, which represents 24.6% of the total workforce. 11% of Aberdeenshire’s workforce is employed in the energy and water industry, which is significantly higher than the Scottish average of 3.7%.

Agriculture

Aberdeenshire has 9% of Scotland’s land area but 26% of the national arable total. Over 11,100 people are estimated to be employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry in Aberdeenshire (2011 Census).

Fishing

Aberdeenshire is Scotland’s foremost fishing area. In 2013 the region accounted for 49.9% of all fish landed into Scotland. Together with Aberdeen it provided 25% of Scotland’s regular fishing employment. However, since 2009, the quantity of fish landings in the North East has declined by 17.0% and total employment in the industry has fallen by 10.5%.

Tourism

Aberdeenshire’s tourist industry continues to contribute to the economic well-being of the area. In 2014 visitors spent over £220 million in the region.

Energy Industry

There is significant energy related infrastructure, presence and expertise in Aberdeenshire. Peterhead is an important centre for the energy industry.

Energetica

Energetica is being developed as a world-class development corridor between Aberdeen and Peterhead, offering investment and growth opportunities for energy, engineering and technology organisations of all sizes.

New energy efficient business park 800,000 square feet of commercial development land

Enerfield Business Park, which is ideally positioned between Aberdeen and Ellon, has been formally launched as part of the Energetica programme, to provide high quality business units and storage yards for the energy and business sector in the region.


Aberdeen

Investor interest in Dundee is at an all time high:

Regeneration of Waterfront £1.1 billion plus 9,000 jobs

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland by population

There has been great investment in Dundee with the £1.1 billion Dundee Waterfront regeneration, which is now well underway. This project will transform the area into the city’s new bustling hub, featuring restaurants, bars, hotels and the V&A Dundee, the first ever design museum to be built outside of London. The new Dundee Waterfront is set to generate over 9000 new jobs for the city.

Many of which will be within the Governments priority industries e.g. 1,300 jobs in digital media and creative industries, 4,800 in the financial sector and leisure, 300 in renewable technology industries and a further 1,110 in offices/retail.

Life SciencesDundee is home to one of the most significant biomedical and life sciences community in the UK employing 4,100 people and boasting a larger medical research complex than the National Institute for Medical Research in London.

The life sciences sector accounts for 16% of the local economy and is forecast to grow at 10% per annum over the next 3 years.

Clinical Research Dundee leads the way in clinical and translational research in Scotland and boasts the state- of-the-art Clinical Research Centre - a custom built clinical research facility.

Clinical research strengths cover diabetes, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, cancer and neuroscience, as well as expertise in health informatics and analytics.

Digital MediaDundee is also the hub of the Scottish digital media sector with an estimated 70% to 80% of employees being based in Dundee.

Dundee is the location of one of Europe’s most accomplished hubs for computer games and mobile digital content development. As export driven industries, games and application development along with other digital media combine to form a key sector for the city.

Dundee is well placed to be at the forefront of renewable energy technology and plans to attract at least two renewable energy firms to the city by 2017.


Dundee

Dundee is changing rapidly and has at least two high-profile, focused industries: life sciences and digital media.

Edinburgh is one of the fastest growing and most productive cities in the UK. Across all business sectors, Edinburgh is a magnet for established as well as young companies, start-ups and entrepreneurs.

There were 2,566,000 people in employment in Scotland in Q1 2014, an increase of 60,900 (2.4%) from 2,505,000 in Q1 2013.

Edinburgh, as the capital city of Scotland, is a powerhouse of the Scottish economy and has been consistently the most prosperous part of Scotland and also has the strongest economy of any city in the UK outside of London. The economy of Edinburgh and its region (which includes areas such as the Forth Valley, Fife and the municipal authorities of Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian) has been announced as one of the fastest growing city regions in Europe, with strong rates of growth in banking, financial services and hi tech research and development.

Education and academic research plays a significant role in the economy of the city. There is currently a student population of 57,850 enrolled in universities across the city.

Renewable Energy

The Edinburgh City Region is at the forefront of Scotland’s renewable energy sector due to its expertise in developing and bringing to market new renewable technologies and existing strengths in engineering and traditional energy.

Planned investment of £100 billion in offshore wind over the next 10 years is a huge opportunity for Scottish businesses. The already established engineering, offshore and coastal base in Scotland along with some of the strongest wind speeds in Europe means the nation is well positioned to reap the benefits that offshore wind development offers.


Edinburgh

Glasgow city is home to more than one in three Scots; has more than 35% of Scotland’s jobs and contributes more than 36% of Scotland’s exports.

Glasgow is also home to nearly 40% of all jobs in the Financial Services, Aerospace, Defence and Marine sectors in Scotland and around one in three of all jobs in the Tourism, Food and Drink and Construction sectors.

Glasgow’s population is predominantly youngA look at Glasgow’s population pyramid reveals that the city’s population is predominantly young, since more than 24 percent of its residents are aged between 16 and 29 years old. This figure contrasts with the Scottish average for this age group, which is barely 18 per cent. The second largest age group is comprised by people aged 30 to 44 (11 per cent), whereas people aged 75 and over constitute the smallest group, accounting for 6.7 per cent of the city’s population.

More than 13,000 businesses operate in the city

Currently, the city’s economic output exceeds £17 billion. Approximately 25 per cent of Scotland’s most important business firms are based in Glasgow, and in total, more than 13,000 businesses operate in the city.

Glasgow – Powering the Future

Glasgow is aiming to rebrand itself as one of the world’s sustainability and clean-tech leaders. Sustainability touches on a number of factors and business sectors, not only low carbon industries.


Glasgow

Glasgow has a varied economy with the top five industries being:

• banking and insurance

• business services

• health

• public administration

• communications

Glasgow – Leader in Life Sciences

Glasgow has a phenomenal record in the life sciences sector – potential to create 30,000 high value jobs over the next five years.

Tourism – increase of 16,000 jobs by 2016

A crucial element of Glasgow’s tourism strategy is business tourism, which has been worth £1 billion to the city’s economy, since 2005. Conference delegates’ account for one in five hotel beds sold in Glasgow.

Retail Industry

Glasgow is the UK’s largest and most successful shopping location outside of London. There are over 1,500 shops in the city centre which generate £2.4b per annum retail sales turnover, supporting 150,000 jobs in

Glasgow city centre and helping attract 2.2 million visitors each year.

Financial Services Industry

The financial sector employs 1 in 13 of Glasgow’s total workforce. Over 52,000 people are employed across all the financial services, insurance, IT and business services sectors, making it one of city’s most important growth sectors.


Glasgow

Inverness is one of the fastest-growing economic areas in the UK. Growth of 0.9% (quarter on quarter) put it among the fastest growing UK regions. Inverness was granted city status in 2000.

With 18% population growth in the last ten years and GVA growth higher than any other Scottish city, Inverness attracts professional people because of its wealth of job opportunities and work life balance – ranked 5th best British city for its quality of life.

Although renowned for tourism, new industries have been developing in the city. In particular, Inverness is developing as a centre of excellence in the treatment of diabetes. The city is also developing an expertise in renewables, with two of Scotland’s leading wave and tidal companies based in the city.

The country’s largest life sciences employer, LifeScan Scotland, is based in the city, along with the prestigious Centre for Health Science. The life sciences sector has an overall workforce of 7,000.

Inverness Campus (to open autumn 2015)

One of the most ambitious projects in Scotland - Inverness Campus will be a nationally and internationally significant location for business, research and education.

It is one of Europe’s most impressive locations for business and it is getting ready to welcome the world. The Campus sits at the centre of one of Scotland’s most dynamic life sciences clusters.

Independent research estimates that Inverness Campus has the potential to support up to 6,000 jobs over the next 30 years, with figures showing the completed Campus could attract future investment of over £100 million, while generating £38 million to the Highlands and Islands economy every year.

Renewable Energy

Inverness is home to some of the best renewable energy resources in Europe and its high quality environment is a draw for millions of visitors each year.


Inverness

The strength of Perth’s economy lies in its diversity, with a balance of large companies, the public sector, a broad range of small and medium-sized enterprises and many self-employed business people.

Locally registered companies turn over £10 billion which is the 9th highest figure in Scotland and 4% of Scotland’s economy. Wholesale, retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles is a very dominant sector with £1,883,000,000 turnover which is an 18.8% share in the total turnover.

The Perth economy is ranked in the Top 10 enterprising demographics in Scotland, with an average of 42.6 registered enterprises per 10,000 residents putting it well above the Scottish average of 30.1.

Major Industries Include:

Food and Drink

The turnover of the food and drink sector in Perth and Kinross is estimated at £280 million with a farm sector that has a relatively advantaged structure and a growing value added processing sector.

Renewable Energy

The Perth and Kinross area is among the top in the UK for installed renewable energy capacity, it is estimated that there are 124 companies from Perth and Kinross that are currently active in the renewable or energy efficiency sectors.

Tourism

Revenue from tourism is worth nearly £400 million annually to the local economy with an estimated 12% of local employment in the tourism and hospitality sector, compared with 7% for Scotland as a whole.

Labour Force

Perth and Kinross has a population of 149,680 people, 60% of whom are of working age. It is an area of dynamic population growth, projected to grow by a third to 2035 and by 13% within the next decade alone - the highest rate of growth in Scotland.

Perth and Kinross have a lower number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance than Scotland or Great Britain and, in fact, fifth lowest in Scotland.

Nearly a quarter (24.8%) of all persons in employment in Perth and Kinross work within the public sector.

The largest employer in the city is Perth and Kinross Council which employ 6,000 people. Other key employers in Perth include Scottish & Southern Energy, Stagecoach, Aviva, NHS Tayside, Perth College UHI and Balhousie Care Group.

Location

Perth lies 25 miles west of Dundee, 40 miles to the north of Edinburgh and 60 miles north-east of Glasgow: 90% of Scotland’s population can be accessed within a 90 minute drive.


Perth

Stirling is reputed to be the third fastest growing area of Scotland in terms of population.

The highest proportion of the population, at 24.3%, was concentrated in the 16–29 age group. Stirling also had a higher proportion of non-Scottish born residents at 16.5%, compared to the Scottish average of 12.8%.

Stirling is right in the middle of the country, with half of Scotland’s population within an hour of the city centre.

Key sectors of employment include tourism, food and drink, and life and chemical sciences

The University of Stirling and Stirling Council are two of the biggest employers in the area. Knowledge related industries, research and development as well as life sciences have clustered around the university in the Stirling University Innovation Park, close to its main campus.


Stirling

Stirling residents are more qualified than the average Scottish workforce

Stirling residents are more qualified than the average Scottish workforce, which within an internationally admired Scottish context, is a highly desirable feature for employers. Excellent schools at all levels, combined with Forth Valley College and the University of Stirling provide a world beating pipeline of locally grown talent.

The city’s workforce currently has an above average share of professional and management staff.

Once graduating from Stirling University 94% of its students are in employment or further study within six months.

Stirling is home to around 4,000 businesses employing 35,000 people

Some examples of major employers include Prudential, Capita, Falcon Food Services, Forth Electrical Services, United Auctions, Graham’s Family Dairies, Superglass, Ogilvie Group, Norbord, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority.

Stirling University has played an important role in developing research and development opportunities in the area.

The adjacent Stirling University Innovation Park, set up in a joint venture with Stirling Council in 1986, is home to more than 40 companies with specialism including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, renewable energy, engineering, and technology.

Key Statistics of University:

• 11,000+ students

• 8,200+ undergraduate students

• 3,400+ postgraduate students


Stirling

Why is innovation important?

Because the world is becoming increasingly competitive

Only companies that constantly challenge what they do and challenge themselves to come up with new and different ways of doing things, as well as constantly improve on things that they already do, will survive in this new globally competitive environment.

Innovation cycles are becoming rapidly shorter, which means that companies have to be constantly on their toes, turning out new products and new services.

Innovation is fundamental to growing and improving business

International evidence shows a strong relationship between innovation and economic growth. In its simplest form, innovation is about not standing still.

Summary

An internationally competitive Scotland depends on a complex inter-play of factors, such as how innovative, active and effective Scottish companies, people and institutions are in engaging with international partners and operating in global markets.

Scotland has a strong track record in attracting foreign direct investment, maintaining a consistently strong performance in comparison with other parts of the UK and the EU.

Innovation is the life blood of long-term economic success

Scotland needs more companies creating and sustaining new jobs, investing and participating in innovation and operating internationally. Evidence shows that companies which operate internationally are both more productive and more innovative, as they are exposed to new ideas and business models.

Improving the country’s overall innovation performance will be a critical driver of growth and Scotland’s overall global competitiveness.

Workforce planning is a continuous process of shaping the workforce to ensure that it is capable of delivering organisational objectives now and in the future; thus every town and city in Scotland needs a strong, skilful and proficient workforce to enable it to prosper and to actively compete in today’s increasingly competitive global market.

Cities and their regions account for 53 per cent of Scotland’s population and provide two thirds of its exports and 68.7 per cent of Scotland’s total GVA. They are powerhouses for the country’s economy – if Scotland’s cities thrive then all of Scotland prospers.

Emerging sectors such as life sciences, offshore renewables and digital media (within creative industries) have the potential to secure an international market position. PMP Recruitment aim to accommodate companies throughout Scotland with a sufficient workforce and recognise that organisations have different needs at all stages of growth and evolution.

Summary

Why should Scotland develop skills for its local economy? Why is workforce planning important?

Workforce planning enables a city to improve efficiency, effectiveness and productivity by having employees with the right knowledge and skills and who are a good fit for the job they are in, which in turn strengthens an organisation’s capacity to achieve business targets.

Inward investment is a key component of Scotland’s international development. A series of recent successes has seen overseas firms play a key role in creating new jobs in Scotland.

By boosting skills companies will see their level of productivity increase and business will play its part by improving competitiveness, in addition furthering opportunities for young people by way of apprenticeships and more training for older workers is crucial.

Supply of an efficient workforce is crucial

Scotland is extremely fortunate to have world class assets and resources in the shape of companies and universities with expertise in niche areas. This makes the country highly competitive on the global stage, the supply of an efficient and skilful workforce is therefore crucial.

Companies need to focus on maximizing employee engagement by putting the employee at the centre and leveraging their inherent skills, experience, and collaboration, as well as support for life-long learning. Organizations will need to account for new expectations if they want to continue to stay competitive and successful.

Education and training represents an investment not just in a company’s culture but in society and economy - thus a highly skilled population leads to higher wages, better jobs and economic growth.

Summary

‘To improve is to change – to be perfect is to change often’

Bridging the skills gap

Better training and education opportunities would benefit employees and businesses alike. For employees, obsolescence is a bigger concern than layoffs.

Gaps in leadership capabilities spell trouble for future growthIdeally when an employee resigns, someone from within a company will have been groomed and prepared to take over, but in reality, this is not happening.

Why is leadership important?Dedicated and efficient leadership brings quality and commitment, which consequently delivers company decisions which are logical and supported by sound reasoning.

Improved leadership in Scotland means better productivityTo be effective, teams need to be explicit about the ways they will work together, and this comes from the instruction and direction of strong leadership. It is the leaders who are the individuals who are held accountable for the company’s success, therefore every team needs a strong leader and it is crucially relevant in a team environment so that each member knows what is expected of each of them because this is how mutual accountability and trust amid a team develops.

A key characteristic which underpins the success of all high growth firms is strong leadership and ambition. Research has shown the robust relationship between strong, effective leadership and business dynamism. With improved leadership, Scotland’s productivity, innovation and skills base will be enhanced.

PMP Recruitment understand that every organisation needs a constant supply of candidates with the necessary skills because this is the foundation of business success and appreciate that it is the educational policies, not economic conditions, which is the essential element of confronting our present global talent mismatch.

PMP Recruitment constantly endeavour to develop and nurture relationships which they have with all their candidates on their database, as well as continually seeking and engaging with new candidates to attract fresh talent.

PMP Recruitment recognise, completely, that the long-term economic health of towns and cities rests on investment in citizens’ skills and professional qualifications.

Also as a recruitment agency we acknowledge our responsibility “that we must always be at the forefront of industry knowledge.”

It is our objective to help and assist all companies in Scotland to recruit and employ successful candidates in order that they may fulfil business targets and compete in today’s increasingly competitive global markets.

Cordant’s Objective

Summary

PMP Recruitment

Be Agile

Documents

Market Profile Scotland - Amazon S3 · Scotland is committed to generating an equivalent of 100% of electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020, along with at least 11% renewable