Wales remains bottom of UK nation and region economy table
slovegrove/Getty ImagesWales is once again least productive of the UK nations and regions, according to the latest figures on the economy.
Regional gross value added (GVA) tables show that on average workers in Wales generated £19,899 per head.
GVA calculates the value of what we produce in terms of services we give and the things we make at work.
The GVA in Wales grew by 2.7% in 2017 - slower than in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. Average growth across the UK was 3%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes the figures for Wales annually.
They help tell us more about how people in different areas are fairing in terms of their opportunities and living standards.
In Scotland, the GVA per head is £25,485, in Northern Ireland it is £21,172, and £28,096 in England.
Anglesey still has the lowest GVA per head of local areas in Wales at £13,957 but is no longer bottom of the UK table.
The island has now moved ahead of five areas in Northern Ireland, with Ards and North Down now at the bottom on £9,862 per head.
As the figures calculate the value of the work that people do at their place of work - it does not tell us where the wealthiest people live.
Although Anglesey has the lowest GVA for Wales there are many people living there with high household incomes. So, if they work in Bangor or Manchester, the value of their work will be calculated there.
The island also has a higher proportion of retired people, so will see its average GVA fall as those people may not be generating value directly on Anglesey.
The Gwent valleys are still also in the UK bottom 10 for local areas at £15,062 per head.
But when we look at employment figures for Blaenau Gwent - 71.5% of its working population have a job - it suggests that a high proportion of these are relatively low skilled and that this is reflected in what people take home.
Average wages in Blaenau Gwent in 2018 were £483 a week compared with £517 a week for Wales as a whole.
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The findings also include:
- Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan have the highest GVA per head in Wales of £26,486; this was followed by Flintshire and Wrexham at £25,264 per head (this rise of £989 was the biggest growth in Wales).
- Wales had the lowest growth in "real" GVA over the year of UK nations, when adjusted for inflation, at 1.4%. The highest growth on this measure was in Flintshire and Wrexham (+4.4%) while the biggest fall was seen in Swansea (-1.5%).
- The strongest UK growth in courier and postal services was in Wales at 17.5%.
- Swansea Bay city region saw an annual growth in total GVA of 2.4%; in Cardiff Capital region it rose 3.4% and it was 4.4% in areas covered by the North Wales growth deal.
HOW NEIGHBOURING BUSINESSES BOOST THE ECONOMY
Two businesses in Denbighshire are very different, but less than five miles (7km) apart and both are important to the Welsh economy and their community.
US-owned optical engineering company Qioptiq - which started as Pilkington's 50 years ago - makes specialist night-sights and thermal imaging equipment for people and equipment for the military and space industries. It employs 650 people at Bodelwyddan and St Asaph and is worth up to £40m for the local economy. It too is growing and the GVA rise in this sector in Wales shows a 14% increase.
"We have PhDs, master degrees, crafts people in optical engineering, a whole range," said managing director Peter White. "We're world class engineers and reflect that in our pay packets."
"We've created wealth for Denbighshire by being here. Once people come to work here, it's a good work-life balance, the rural environment, Snowdonia and Manchester not far away, it's a good blend."
Llaeth y Llan based near the village of Llannefydd on the Conwy-Denbighshire border makes yoghurt for supermarkets, a very competitive market. It was founded in 1985 and built a processing plant in 2016 on the family farm. Workers are paid more than the average wage for Wales - around £26,000 - and skills range from production, research and innovation to management. It has grown by 60% in the last two years
Conwy and Denbighshire have a GVA per head of £16,916.
Managing director Owain Roberts said all its ethos and brand was around its Welshness and he believes small businesses contribute locally - and also to the whole economy.
"We employ 50 people, the majority form the local community. For the plant, all the steel came from a local company and we used a local contractor."
"We constantly strive to make things slicker and faster, it's finding a niche and developing our staff."
The food and drink manufacturing sector is dominated by a host of smaller firms and accounts for £4.8 bn of GVA in the Welsh economy every year.