Latest data shows that there are approximately 130,500 people employed in LB Croydon. Below we set out the industrial structure of the borough and key sectors.
Broad Industrial Employment
Table 4.7 sets out the industrial structure of LB Croydon by employment. Overall, the borough
has seen a 3% growth in workplace employment between 1998 and 2008 (latest ONS data), which is significantly less than the Greater London rate of 11%.
12
Businesses are measured here as data units. These do not readily correspond to the commonly used firms, companies or businesses by which employers are sometimes identified.
Table 4.7: Employment in LB Croydon by Broad Industrial Groups Industry 1998 % of total 2008 % of total Change (Actual)
Agriculture, hunting and forestry 37 0.02 192 0.1 155
Energy and Water 1,076 0.8 51 0.03 -1,025
Manufacturing 9,293 7.3 4,165 3.2 -5,128
Construction 7,574 5.9 6,368 4.9 -1,206
Distribution, Hotels and restaurants 31,848 25.1 29,164 22.3 -2,684
Transport and communication 10,362 8.2 7,186 5.5 -3,176
Banking, Finance and Insurance 35,992 28.4 37,344 28.6 1,352
Public administration, Education and
Health 24,877 19.6 38,998 29.9 14,121
Other Services 5,796 4.6 7,029 5.4 1,233
Total 126,856 100 130,493 100 3,637
Source: ONS, Annual Business Inquiry. These figures do not include self-employed individuals Note that figures do not always add up to exact sum due to rounding
Public Administration, Education and Health Services
The most significant sector in terms of level of employment in the borough is the Public Administration, Education and Health Services sector, which between 1998 to 2008, grew by approximately 56.7%, equivalent to 14,121 new jobs, and now accounts for 29.9% of the employment in the borough. Many of these jobs are office-based, through the location of central government operations such as the Home Office. Employment in the sector is greater than the average for London of 28.2%, and the UK of 26.9%. It was also the biggest growth sector in terms of employee numbers in the borough during the period 1998 to 2008. The growth of this sector has off-set the large falls in other sector such manufacturing; transport and communication; and distribution, hotels and restaurants. If the employment of the public administration, education and health sector were not included employment rate between 1998 and 2008 would be –10.3%.
The growing dependency on the public sector employment will invariably impact on economic diversity and economic resilience, economic vibrancy and perception of place to ‘do’ business, the attraction of private sector inward investment, average earnings and social mobility.
Banking and Financial Services
LB Croydon is home to major financial service companies with back and mid offices functions. By employment, the Banking and Finance sector is the second largest sector for the borough, representing over one quarter (28.6%) of the total employment in the borough. This is higher than the average for London of 19.4% and the UK average of 21.6%. However, the sector experienced only modest growth amounting to approximately 3.8% (1,352 jobs) since 1998.
Manufacturing
In a reflection of wider trends, employment in manufacturing declined by 55.2% between 1998 and 2007, from 9,293 to 4,165 over the period.
Table 4.7 below summarises the changes in the employee numbers for each sector in the LB
Croydon between 1998 and 2087.
Creative and Cultural Industries
There are over 11,500 jobs in the creative and cultural sector13, representing 8.9% of all jobs in the borough. The actual number and proportion of workplace jobs held in creative and cultural businesses has fallen over the past 5 years from 12,380, representing a decline of 6.4%. Comparatively, the proportion of the CCI sector across Greater London is significantly higher at 13.2%, and has grown since 2003 by 9.2%.14 By employment the largest sub-sectors of the CCI sector are Computer Games, software, electronic publishing; Fashion; and Architecture, though the employment held in Architecture has declined significantly in recent years.15
Table 4.8: LB Croydon Creative and Cultural Industries by Workplace Employment
Proportion of total CCI sector 2003 2008 Change 2003-2008 LB Croydon London Advertising 280 190 -32% 1.6% 6.9% Architecture 2,980 2,110 -29% 18.2% 12.7%
Art and Antiques 2,280 2,600 14% 22.4% 10.6%
Computer Games, software, electronic publishing
1,570 2,630 68% 22.7% 16.6%
Fashion 1,460 1,450 -1% 12.5% 16.1%
Museums and other cultural facilities
300 360 20% 3.1% 3.1%
Music and the Visual and Performing Arts
560 510 -9% 4.4% 7.0%
Publishing 2,710 1,440 -47% 12.5% 14.8%
Radio and Television 10 40 300% 0.3% 7.1%
Video, film and photography
240 250 4% 2.2% 5.1%
Total 12,380 11,580 -6% 100.0% 100.0%
Source: Annual Business Inquiry
The CCI sector is dominated by small businesses and a large proportion of businesses fall under the VAT threshold of £70,000 turnover per annum. Due to HM Revenues and Customs
13
Based on 4-digit Standard Industry Classifications (SIC) as per DCMS’ Evidence Toolkit (August 2004) and other relevant literature by the Greater London Authority (London’s Creative Sector: 2004 Update (GLA, 2004), GLA Economics and TBR Economics (April 2006))
14
Annual business inquiry workplace analysis, 2003 and 2008 data 15
disclosure rules there is no accessible data to assess the contribution of non-VAT enterprises/ organisations. The Small Business Service estimates there are 4.3million enterprises in the UK, which indicates there are approximately 2.2million of non-VAT enterprises in the UK economy, that is non-VAT represent 51% of all businesses. 16
Based upon this fact, non-VAT enterprises in the cultural sector in Croydon are likely to comprise in the region of 50% of all CCI businesses. The CCI sector is therefore estimated to support a total of 23,160 jobs across the borough.
Research by NESTA17 recognises the importance of creative occupations outside the creative industries sector - that is those employed in creative jobs in non-creative industries, for instance a graphic designer employed in a council. NESTA estimates that the ratio of creatively employment in creative industries to creatively occupied outside the creative sector is 1:0.5218. On this basis, a broad estimate for creative employment and the creatively occupied in LB Croydon would be approximately 35,200.