Annual event puts inclusive productivity at the centre of the North East economy

The North East economy has added 82,000 high quality jobs since 2014, attendees have heard at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s annual Our Economy event.

But, with average pay and productivity stubbornly lagging behind national averages, there’s still work to do.

Despite impressive improvements to the region’s labour market, the average North East full-time employee earned £580 per week in 2022, compared to an average of £646 across England. In 2021, the key measure of productivity, gross value added per hour worked, was £7.30 lower in the North East than the English average.

Lucy Winskell OBE, chair of the North East LEP, said: “We’ve seen incredible progress towards the LEP’s ‘more and better jobs’ target for the region’s economy, and North East businesses have displayed admirable resilience over the past decade, dealing with disruption from Brexit, the pandemic and now inflation and the cost of living crisis.

“But now we need to turn our focus to how we keep improving while making sure everyone benefits. We need our economy to be more productive, we need it to be more inclusive, and we shouldn’t think about those two things separately.”

Our Economy saw more than two hundred business, education and voluntary sector leaders gather alongside political leaders at The Catalyst on the Newcastle Helix site to hear from national experts on the concept of inclusive productivity.

Speakers included Dr Marianne Sensier of the University of Manchester’s Productivity Institute, Annabel Smith of the Centre for Progressive Policy, and Frank Millar of the Centre for Process Innovation.

Attendees also heard from Nisha Katona, chief executive of fast-growing restaurant group Mowgli Street Food, which is set to open a new location in Newcastle city centre in the coming months.

As a business, Mowgli has a joint focus on creating a supportive, nurturing workplace as well as taking action to enrich the communities they operate in by working with local charities and supporting a child in need for each full time employee.

Lucy Winskell added: “When we think about productivity we often think about researchers in lab coats, or advanced manufacturing plants full of automation, but actually every business can make changes to be more efficient. Mowgli is an example of how a business can grow rapidly with inclusion at its heart.

“It’s simply not the case that we need to choose between improving productivity and being a more inclusive economy. We can and should do both. And with broader, deeper devolution on the horizon for the region, we’ll have more of the tools we need to embed inclusive productivity in everything we do.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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