The largest sector in the economy is business, finance and
insurance
and the fastest growing is construction. The fastest declining
is
public administration, education and health.
The Knowledge sector, seen by the EU and UK Government as
a
major
source of future employment and wealth, is strong in St.
Albans.
St. Albans scores high on an indicator measuring how good
an area
is
for enterprise though recent trends give cause for concern.
New firm
growth has been consistently below the county average and
in 2002
there was a net loss of businesses contrary to the county
and
regional
trend.
Small firms dominate the local economy. An average business
size
of
7.07 workers per business gives the district the lowest ranking
in
Hertfordshire in terms of average business size and it ranks
387 out
of 407 nationally.
St. Albans has a highly skilled workforce and ranks No.
1 in the
county and No. 8 nationally.
There is a wide gap, over £200 per week, between the
average pay
of
St. Albans residents and the average pay of jobs based within
the
district. This reflects a position where the higher paid
professional and
managerial workers tend to commute out of the district for
work.
More than half (51%) of the St. Albans resident workforce
commute
out
of the district for work and 42% of local jobs are taken
by
incommuters.
Unemployment in St. Albans is well below the national and
regional
average. However local unemployment has increased by over
a third
over
the past two years whilst it has fallen nationally.
London Colney has seen the largest increase in unemployment
with
the
figure more than doubling between 2001 and 2003.
There appears to be a mismatch between the jobs being sought
by
local
job seekers and the vacancies being offered. In particular
there is a
local shortage of professional and managerial posts.
Where local companies seek to fill professional and managerial
posts
the level of pay offered is often not sufficient to attract
applicants.
There has been a significant loss in industrial and commercial
floorspace in St. Albans. There has been a compensatory increase
in
retail and office accommodation but there still appears to
be a
shortage of office space.
 State
of the Local Economy Report
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