And the good news is digital is already employing more than 100,000 highly skilled people in the south and that number is set to grow.
“One of the questions posed to me is - how big is the digital sector? If you can prove that the digital sector is a big driver of economic growth and employment in the region, it makes it easier to be heard amongst the many voices clamouring for policy change, investment and/or attention, sometimes being bigger is an advantage. How to prove it though? Firstly, we could argue over what do we mean by ‘digital’. Then how do we measure this ‘digital' thing. What are the boundaries, who do we include? This could lead you down a path of many interesting twists and turns which I simply avoid by taking what is already available. Thank you Office for National Statistics (ONS).
“Without getting into the detail, the ONS have handily already categorised who, what and where a digital tasked/employed person is. I will argue later in this piece about some of the ONS data shortcomings. For now though, this is a fantastic starting point. Next step was to see how I could make some sense and relevance of this data. Knowing my limitations, I sought expert help. In the spirit of collaboration and partnership Hampshire County Council (HCC) Economic Intelligence kindly researched and then published the Digital Technologies (download here) report on the size, coverage and depth of digital employment and economic activity here in the south.
“The report covers 4 LEP areas. Dorset, Solent, EM3 and Coast to Capital. The findings are based on ONS data. The report was written by Jola Sysak, Principle Research Officer, Hampshire County Council.
“But back to the original question. How big is the digital sector. According to the figures. Very. What do we mean by big? Employment, yes it is big. Over 100,000 jobs. Economic impact. That is big to. Digital represents over 10 per cent of the region’s GVA. However, this is not all. The figures miss another chunk of those involved in digital activity as part of the their employment but they are not recorded as such. This is because they work for a bank or a retailer, or in pharma or in naval engineering. Thus, the figures actually undershoot the size and importance of the digital community. We are trying to find a way of including those numbers in next years report. So digital could be even bigger…
“I would like to share some highlights from the report that I believe are important to consider when thinking about the size of digital in the south. This is after all not simply all about numbers.
• The digital cluster in the south region versus the rest of the country is higher than average at over 13 per cent
• Digital employees tend to be higher skilled with higher salaries
• Digital skills compete with high value manufacturing and maritime sectors
• Clusters of digital activity are right across our region
“Another reason for creating the report is to ensure we can measure any changes. Be they the result of policy, circumstance or graft. By understanding what the current situation is will better inform us all to make smart decisions about where we work, what we train for, what we study and what types of job do we want to do. The intention is with HCC’s, ONS and Business South’s assistance we hope to publish another report next year.
“Next steps. Digital South has already used the report to justify the need for investment in the local digital economy as part of a TSB Catapult Funding request. Digital South is also seeking cross LEP support to include a Digital Economy focus in their investment plans. The report is available as open data. Please feel free to read and share. I encourage a healthy debate on what to do next with this evidence.
“My thanks to Jola Sysak and the Economic Research team at HCC.”
