New figures from the 2021 census show that economic activity levels in Exeter declined significantly during the past decade, falling by 4.3% since 2011.
Of 331 local authority areas included in Office for National Statistics data, which measures employment levels among over-16 residents including students, only eleven recorded greater falls.
Barking and Dagenham recording the highest increase at 3.6%. Several other London boroughs were in the top ten as were Knowsley in Merseyside, Blaenau Gwent in South Wales and Salford in Manchester.
Exeter employment levels as a proportion of the city’s population are also now among the lowest in the country at 53.6%.
The England and Wales average is 57.2%, but in many areas the economic activity levels are much higher: nearly 70% of the population of Wandsworth works.
The principal reason for economic inactivity is being retired (55%), following by being a student (28.4%), looking after a home or family (23.6%) or being long-term sick or disabled (19.1%).
Exeter’s population has grown by 11.1% since 2011, at half the rate of Tower Hamlets but nearly 5% faster than the England and Wales average of 6.3%.
Employment opportunities in the city have not kept up: the population increased at nearly six times the rate of job creation between 2011 and 2021.
The 2023 Centre for Cities Outlook report offers several reasons for Exeter’s poor job creation performance. Of the 62 cities it assesses only four have lower private to public sector employment ratios.
The report nevertheless identifies a high proportion of “new economy” activity in Exeter, citing the presence of around 230 such firms in the city. However the data this finding is based on neither uses official classifications of economic activity nor is publicly accessible.
National statistics instead show Exeter dominated by over 11,000 health and social work jobs, nearly 9,000 in wholesale and retail trades and another 8,000 in education.
More people (4,600) are employed in construction in Exeter than in professional, scientific and technical activities, and only 2,000 work in information and communication.
This suggests that the Exeter “new economy” firms that the Centre for Cities report cites actually employ very few people.
The Office of National Statistics has also begun publishing new data grouping similar local authority areas together in statistical “clusters” to enable more effective assessment of the impact of policy interventions across key social and economic areas.
Exeter’s economic performance places it in the “below median on all economic metrics” cluster, with lower than median scores for employment rate, productivity, pay and disposable household income.
Other local authority areas in this cluster are mostly in the East Midlands and North West of England.
The city is also slightly below median on connectivity and skills and far below median on well-being metrics. However it performs well on health, with better than median scores across the board.
