More than 13,000 jobs in Furness are linked to exports, a new study claims.
Commissioned by the Department for International Trade and carried out by the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde, the report examines the value of exporting-led jobs to the UK economy.
It is published alongside a new Board of Trade report, which sets out recommendations to unleash the UK’s full exporting potential and propel jobs and growth across the country.
The Board of Trade calls for deeper trade liberalisation, new trade deals and for a boosting of the UK’s role as global services and data trade hub as the keys to driving a jobs-led recovery from COVID-19.
The research estimates that median wages in jobs directly and indirectly supported by exports were about seven per cent higher than the national median and that more jobs (3.7 million) are supported by exports to the rest of the world than to the EU (2.8 million).
The Office for National Statistics also estimates that goods exporting businesses are 21 per cent more productive than those who do not.
“This report demonstrates how enterprising Furness businesses are,” explained Barrow MP Simon Fell.
“The Government is securing lucrative trade deals across the globe, which will only serve to boost jobs and wages for households across Barrow and Furness.”
The research is accompanied by a new Board of Trade report – Global Britain, Local Jobs – that prescribes a series of policy fixes to “unlock the UK’s full exporting potential and propel a trade-led, jobs-led recovery from COVID-19”.
This includes:
- Boosting the UK’s role as a global hub for services and digital trade.
- Pursuing new trade deals with large and fast-growing economies beyond Europe, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.
- Greater support to help businesses internationalise, and adopt new export targets.
