A highly skilled city
Our workforce
A highly skilled workforce is essential to ensure Manchester’s economy continues to thrive. Increasing skill levels within the city’s population will ensure our residents can access the high-level jobs the city’s economy is creating and will help reduce levels of dependency, giving everyone the opportunity to benefit from the city’s economic success. Over the past 16 years, the progress made in improving the skill levels of residents has been a key component in ensuring that the city’s overall growth is maintained.
Challenges
Despite the strength and resilience of Manchester’s economy, there are still significant challenges to overcome if we are to connect all Manchester’s residents to the city’s growth. Improvements made in recent years in skills, qualifications, job security and wages have not reached all our residents, leading to a persistent gap between workforce and resident wages. This has been further negatively impacted by the economic crisis following the pandemic. Digital exclusion has been highlighted throughout the pandemic and has been a successful part of our response to ensure that all residents can be supported to access and effectively engage with the internet for both work and life.
Education
The pandemic has had a major impact on the delivery of education for children and young people in the city. Schools were closed for most pupils for significant periods of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 academic years, and the UK saw the cancellation of national assessments and exams. As such, our focus has been to support schools, Early Years settings and other education providers to provide good-quality remote learning and to support the most vulnerable.
Despite remote learning and home schooling, there are likely to be attainment setbacks in future years. Manchester’s educational institutions continue to work hard to ensure our young people can access education. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, improving the outcomes for all children will remain a key educational priority alongside an increased focus on emotional resilience.