Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East Going for Growth: comparing the South Easts economic performance What framework and measures should we use for comparing the economic performance of the SE region? How robust is our evidence base? Is it a priority for GVA per head in the SE region to grow faster or would the current rate do?

Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East Going for growth The Governments PSA target The meaning of sustainable The PSA target could be met – but absolute regional disparities could continue to grow Key components of GVA: productivity & employment. We care about employment as an outcome in its own right

Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East Benchmarking the SE economy SE and London are the two largest contributors to the UK economy SE is the only UK region with an above average economic growth rate No comparable EU regions have a significantly higher level of GVA per head

Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East Other measures of prosperity Gross disposable household income per head Particularly important for looking at prosperity at the sub-regional and local level. The SE is not uniformly prosperous

Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East The SE labour market is tight but it is not overheating 4% unemployment rate; 80% employment rate Who remains excluded from the labour market? Incidence of hard-to-fill and skill shortage vacancies close to national average

Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East The structure of the SE economy and the quality of jobs The knowledge economy The SE region is not constrained by its own supply of highly qualified people

Commission on Sustainable Development in the South East Key policy statements 1. The key objective for the SE is to increase its current rate of economic growth 2. The SE could accept its current growth rate and do more to deal with the problems of success 3. The SE could accept a slightly lower growth rate, which might make it easier for the region to deal with those problems of success …. And for the government to reduce regional disparities