In the South West there are approximately 33,000 passenger transport employees of which 14,500 are working in the bus and coach industry.  In terms of the number of employees, the region has the third smallest passenger transport workforce.  The region accounts for 7% of all sector’s employees.

There are 2,000 companies in the region.  There are several small airports in the region as well as Bristol, together with import regional ports. 

15% of the workforce in the region are female.  9% of the bus and coach industry are female, which is the lowest regional level.  4% of the workforce are from ethnic minority groups. 

Key statistics:

• 11% growth in passenger transport jobs over the last few years
• 15% of the workforce are employed part-time, which is the third highest regional level
• above average number of companies employ 10 or fewer
• 56% of the workforce have an NVQ Level 2
• only a small percentage of workforce (4%) has no qualifications, compared to 10% in England
• 20% of companies have employment vacancies, of which 47% are hard-to-fill
• 1.8% of Jobcentre Plus vacancies are in the sector
• 8% of companies report retention difficulties
• 37% report recruitment problems
• only 9% report skills gaps
• skills gaps are reported for customer handling, technical and practical, team working and problem solving skills
• 30% of companies provide training for their employees
• 30% of companies found that there was a lack of funding available for training
• 13% found that there was a lack of suitable courses in the local area

Priorities for the region include:

• expanding and improving local airports
• improving major roads
• improving links to ports and airports in the region

For more detailed passenger transport priorities in the region go to the GoSkills South West regional fact sheet (2006).

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

For more regional data see: