Dundee City Region economic review

Scottish Enterprise (SE) commissioned a series of economic reviews focusing on the functional economic geographies of the regions that form SE’s operating area: Aberdeen City and Shire, Dundee City Region, East Region, West Region and South of Scotland. The objectives of the review were to: review economic trends and performance since 1999; assess the potential contribution of each region to the Government Economic Strategy’s (GES’s) targets; and to assess the likely impact of the recession on each region. This report is for the local authority areas of Dundee, Angus, and Perth and Kinross, as well as the parliamentary constituency area of North East Fife.

The GES’s seven purpose targets form the basis for assessing progress towards improving Scotland’s economic performance, and provide structure to the review. The review took the following approach: an examination of the global and national economic context; a review of recent economic trends and performance in the region; a comparison of performance with other regions; an assessment of the industrial structure of the region, including representation within key growth sectors; consideration of infrastructure and place issues; and a final economic outlook for the region.

The review concludes that: the region lagged behind Scottish and UK averages during much of the period 1999-2006, and is expected to experience a weaker upturn following the recession than some other regions; GVA per employee is lower than in Scotland and the UK, but the overall GVA growth picture masks some positive achievements; in terms of wider drivers of productivity, the region’s performance is mixed; employment rates in the region have been above Scottish and GB averages since 2004; the region also performs well against other labour market indicators including unemployment, inactivity and benefit dependency; population in the region has been increasing since 2003, following a period of decline, and this is expected to continue over the next decade; median earnings of employees in the region are lower than across Scotland as a whole, and there is evidence of disparities across the region; Dundee City has the lowest employment rate of all the local authorities within the region, and is the only one to fall below the Scottish average; the region accounts for nine per cent of Scotland’s CO2 emissions, and emissions per head are broadly in line with Scottish and UK averages; and the impact of the recession is predicted to be more severe in the region than across Scotland, with a slower recovery rate.

It was not within the remit of the review to make recommendations.