Employment
The success of Haverhill as a location for businesses has been influenced by a number of factors including its proximity to Cambridge, a world-renowned centre for innovation, education and culture. The unique factor of the Cambridge economy is the University of Cambridge, which has had an immense effect on the development of Cambridge as well as its surrounding towns / villages including Haverhill. There are direct employment opportunities created as a result of the University supplying the Cambridgeshire economy and local businesses with highly skilled graduates.
The Cambridge economy is, to a large extent, reliant on knowledge based Research & Development (R&D) and high tech industries. Over the past 40 years there has been a proliferation of business and science park development which has housed and enabled the growth of these industries in the Cambridge area together with associated manufacturing, warehouse and distribution accommodation. Haverhill has tapped into this market creating and sustaining over 520 businesses which operate across a wide variety of sectors and support around 143,000 jobs in the region. This has been further enhanced by significant inward investment into the area as well as the expansion of existing companies.
There are encouraging signs of increased employment rates in the region with the Suffolk Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimant count falling by 0.81% from February to March, the first decline since December 2010. The East of England and country as a whole also saw decreases in JSA claimants of a similar magnitude to those in Suffolk, with the regional count decreasing by 0.81% and in Great Britain as a whole falling by 0.73%. (Data from Jobcentre Plus/NOMIS).
Additionally, employment costs in Haverhill are lower than the national average - around 13% lower - and 30% lower than Greater London which presents employers with a superb gilt-edged recruitment opportunity to employ a highly skilled youthful profile at a highly competitive rate.
Four bids have been placed on the table for government enterprise zones to be created in the region, which could bring a jobs boost to Norfolk and Suffolk as a result of extra funding, tax breaks, super‐fast broadband and a simplified planning system to make it easier for new companies to get up and running and to encourage growth in general. Bids have been tabled for zones in West Norfolk, Broadland, St Edmundsbury and a joint bid for one in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft as a result of the government’s announcement that a further 10 enterprise zones may be created on top of the 11 that have already been announced.
Companies that choose to located themselves at Haverhill Research Park will be well positioned to make the most of a highly skilled pool of local residents, rising employment numbers, likeminded businesses in a productive and successful bio tech cluster and below average employment costs.
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