• More Universal Credit households: The number of households on Universal Credit in Carlisle is rising significantly, and Carlisle has the most households on Universal Credit in Cumbria (8,976 households). • Lower Level 4 attainment levels: Cumberland has a lower proportion of working age residents qualified to Level 4 (36.2%) compared to the national average (47.4%). • Participation in Higher Education: Carlisle parliamentary constituency has a lower proportion of 18-year-olds accepted into higher education (less than 30%), compared to England (36.6%). • Skill retention and attraction: There are continued calls to develop the ‘liveability offer’ of Carlisle, particularly the city centre, the airport, shopping and the cultural offer in order to attract new talent and investment and stop young people from leaving the area. There’s also a need to further promote the opportunities that do exist for young people to develop their careers in the area. • Lower pay: Median monthly pay is less than UK average in East Cumbria (including Carlisle) at 91%, reflecting the low skill, low wage economy concentrated on industries such as retail, wholesale, health and social care.3 Lower pay makes it hard to attract people in from elsewhere. • Labour market exclusions: There are groups of people who are excluded from the labour market due to issues such as the high cost and limited availability of childcare; or work place practices and environments that exclude people who have health conditions, disabilities, or are neurodiverse.4 • An ageing workforce: Carlisle’s population is ageing. This poses challenges in meeting current and future labour market shortages; presents daily difficulties for those members of the workforce with poor health or disability; and inclusion challenges for older people wishing to work. CHALLENGES2 Economic Sectors The city of Carlisle generates a quarter of Cumbria’s economic output, estimated in 2022 to contribute £2.83bn GVA per annum.5 Key sectors in Carlisle are manufacturing, transport and storage sector, engineering, agriculture and the public sector. Major employers include Pirelli Tyres, Crown Packaging, Bendall’s Engineering, Thomas Graham, Direct Rail Services, H&H Group, Carrs-Billington, C and D Auction Marts Ltd, Story Contracting Limited, Cubby Construction, Nestle, the Pladis McVitie’s site, and the 2 Sisters Food Group’s Cavaghan and Gray site. Kingmoor Park in the north of Carlisle has been very successful and is home to a range of businesses, including logistics and service sector employers. The financial and professional sector in Carlisle is also represented by companies such as Cumberland Building Society, Dodd and Co and Burnetts Solicitors. The public and educational sectors are major employers particularly Cumberland Council, Cumberland Infirmary, the Carleton Clinic, Carlisle College and the University of Cumbria. Despite the contributions made by these sectors, Carlisle continues to be viewed as a low skill, low wage economy, lacking jobs in higher value industries such as business services and IT.6 Indeed, in the 2021 Census, using self-reported data, 10.4% of the population felt they held manager, director or senior official roles (compared to 12.9% nationally). Similarly, professional occupations were reported by 14.9% of respondents (compared to 20.3% nationally). Conversely, process, plant and machine operators (11.9%) and customer services and sales (8.7%) were higher than national averages of 6.9% and 7.5% respectively.7 From my perspective, West Cumbria is about nuclear and heavy manufacturing. The Central Lakes is about leisure and tourism. These areas are better established to talk about their identity and actually build on it. They don’t try and change it. It is successful in its own right. They are the cornerstone industries of these areas. Carlisle is a bit of a mixture of all of it. Business Owner I can stand in front of an investor who wants to build something that employs 300 engineers. We’ve got the lowest land prices, we’ve got the capability, we’ve got the ability to do the service, and we have the professional partners we can bring in. We can even deliver a building that would house 400 people. But given the demographics of Carlisle the question is have we got those skills? We do need to continue to create the population growth and the inward skills migration. Place Promoter 1https://www.carlisle.gov.uk/Portals/0/Documents/invest%20in%20Carlisle.pdf 2Unless otherwise stated, all statistics and graphs referenced in this chapter are from the April 2025 Labour Market Briefing produced by Cumberland Intelligence Observatory. These briefings are updated regularly and are available at https://www.cumbriaobservatory.org.uk/economy-employment/economy-employment-further-information/ 3Carlisle Town Investment Plan, Carlisle Town Deal Board, 2021. Carlisle: Opportunities & Challenges 2025 22 23
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