There are 27,000 employees in the Welsh Active Leisure and Learning sector, accounting for 5% of UK sector employment and 2.1% of all UK employment.  46% of jobs in the sector are part-time, compared to 26% across Wales.  90% of the sector are employees and 10% are self-employed.  The largest industry in the sector is sport and recreation employing 56% of employment in the Welsh sector.

Employment levels in the sector are forecast to increase.  The sector will need to recruit 3,710 to cope with replacement demands over the next 5 years.  The sector attracts the highest number of volunteers.  Over the last 2 years, the level of volunteers has increased by 6%. Employment levels are expected to increase by 1.6% per annum over the next five year.

75% of workplaces in the sector have less than 10 employees.

The gross value added (GVA) output of the sector equalled £400 million in 2004, which accounts for 5% of the total UK GVA.  37% of establishments in the sector have reported increased turnover.  The average rate of growth of the sector has been 3.8%.  Output in the sector is forecast to increase further to 2007.

Workforce profile:

• 59% of the sector workforce is female, compared to 47% in the overall Welsh workforce
• 81% of those in playwork are female
• 32% of the workforce is aged 45-59 years, which is the highest proportion
• playwork has an older profile with 36% of the workforce aged 45-59 years
• 99.7% of the Welsh sector workforce is white, compared to 98% in the whole Welsh economy

Personal service (22.4%), professional (13.3%), associate professional and technical (15.6%) occupations are more important within the Wales Active Leisure and Learning sector than in the whole Welsh workforce.  Secretarial and related occupations are slightly over represented within the workforce.  The largest growth will be seen in the number of personal service occupations.  Within the administrative group, there will also be an increase in the number of financial administrators at an average annual rate of 2.4% over the next ten years.  The number of teaching professionals will decrease between 2009 and 2014.

The distribution of qualification levels held by the sector workforce in Wales is similar to that of the whole Welsh economy:

• 32% of the sector workforce is qualified to Level 4 and above, compared to 28% across whole Welsh economy
• 30% have no or low level qualifications, compared to 32%
• playwork is the most well qualified industry as 46% of workforce have Level 4 or 5 qualifications
• 37% of the workforce in caravans have no qualifications

Sector-specific qualifications are believed to be in short-supply, but are required by the sector for regulatory and licensing purposes.  The number of workers at Level 2 and Level 3 categories will rise by 9%.

Skills gaps affect 15% of establishments in the sector, compared to 20% in Wales as whole.  Shortages are reported for customer handling, team working, technical and practical, plus communication skills.  Future skill requirements will be for team working and customer handling skills service, but technical and practical, together with communication skills will need improving.  There is also a greater deficiency for Welsh language skills in the sector (42%) than the whole Welsh economy (20%).

24% of employers have vacancies, 11% are hard-to-fill vacancies and 4% are skill shortage vacancies which are due to shortages of skills, experience or qualifications amongst applicants.
 
Key drivers in the Welsh sector include:

• an increased health awareness
• ageing population with time looking for more low impact activities
• impact of globalisation and technology
• government policy and regulatory framework aimed at encouraging participation in active leisure activities

Source: Skills Needs Assessment – Wales 2005

Keywords
Gross value added (GVA) is the difference between the value of goods and services produced and the cost of raw materials and other inputs which are used up in production.

For more information on sector industries in Wales and data on employment levels see:

Welsh industries in the Active Leisure and Learning sector