The North East passenger transport sector employs 23,000 people, which is the lowest number compared to other English regions.  There is a small concentration of transport planners in the region.  The region has Newcastle International airport and Durham Tees Valley airport, plus six commercial sea ports.  The highest number of employees are in the taxi and private hire industry, followed by the bus and coach industry.  Overall, there has been a 4% growth in the sector over recent years.

22% of the hackney and private hire workforce are female, compared to 11% in 2004 marking a significant increase.  The workforce boasts the second highest proportion of Indian descent employees, who are over-represented in the region’s transport workforce.  The average age of the workforce is 45.7 years.

There are significant skills gaps in the clerical occupations.

Key statistics:

• 4% growth in jobs over the last few years
• highest proportion of the region’s workforce have an NVQ Level 2 or higher, compared with other English regions
• 34% of companies have employment vacancies, of which 68% are hard-to-fill
• 14% report skills gaps6% of companies are facing retention problems
• skills gaps are reported for oral communication, customer handling and general IT skills
• 26% of companies provide training for their employees
• 21% of companies found that there was a lack of funding available for training
• 21% found that there was a lack of suitable courses in the local area

Priorities for the region include:

• develop sea terminal
• transport improvements both road and rail
• possible expansion of modern tram system
• new business park close to the Durham Tees Valley airport

For more detailed passenger transport priorities in the region go to the GoSkills North East Regional fact sheet (2006).

Source:  GoSkills regional fact sheet 2006 and GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a

For more regional data see: