Our Economy 2020 paints a mixed picture of the North East economy’s performance  

Today, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has published the latest edition of Our Economy, an annual publication which examines the performance of the North East economy and how it is changing over time.

This year’s report has also looked in more depth at how the economy varies across different geographic areas within the region.

Victoria Sutherland, Senior Economist at the North East LEP, explains: “This year, Our Economy is being published at a time of immense change and it provides a baseline showing the performance of the North East economy before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year’s report provides data and evidence that we and our partners can use to position the North East for recovery, as we work to bring more and better jobs to our region.”

Each year, Our Economy reviews the North East’s performance across a range of indicators. This is the third year that Our Economy has been published and this year’s report paints a mixed picture of the region’s economic performance.

Our Economy shows that the gap between the North East and the rest of England, excluding London, has widened on a number of indicators, including the value of the goods and services produced per head, employment rate and productivity rate.

In contrast, areas of progress include increasing expenditure on R&D by businesses, increasing proportion of our population qualified to degree-level and above, increased employment in science, research, engineering and technology roles, improved access to superfast broadband and 4G, and increased public expenditure on transport.

The evidence provided by Our Economy is used to inform the work of the North East LEP and partners across the region in delivering the North East Strategic Economic Plan – the roadmap for increasing economic growth in the North East.

Victoria Sutherland added: “What we can see in the report suggests that, even before COVID-19 began to impact the North East, there was a need to do more to grow and develop our economy. 

“Going forward, the focus of our efforts must be to ensure that every part of our region is able to contribute to and benefit from efforts to improve the performance of our economy.”

Our Economy is available to download on the North East Data Hub website and a short video summarising the findings can be viewed here.

ENDS