The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce has published a full report and economic brief for its Quarterly Economic Survey for Q1 2017. The full report can be viewed here.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Gary Woodman, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Results from the latest QES survey paints a bright picture for the local business community with many companies having increased their turnover and number of employees. Sales within the UK market have grown for nearly 46% of businesses, as well as an increase for 42% of those selling outside of the UK market.
It is great to see that over a quarter of all companies surveyed have grown their workforce within the last three months and a higher amount (35%) are expecting to expand within the next three months. However, the findings of the QES also shows that local companies are finding challenges in recruiting suitable staff, despite a small improvement from the previous quarter. We will continue to work with partners to address this issue and to enable the sustainable growth of our local businesses.
We are continuing to invest into skills projects such as Worcester’s Centre of Vocational Excellence, which is set to open this summer and will provide training for several hundreds of learners each year.”
