Stats in after Thurso business conference – young people are 'keen to stay in the area'
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The team behind February's Focus North business conference in Thurso has, this week, released data from surveys showing that young people in the region were "keen to stay in the area if they could find secure employment".
Focus North is made up of the Caithness Chamber of Commerce, Dounreay Site Restoration Limited, Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Government and the University of Highlands and Islands, and all partners have committed to developing a "fairer, resilient, more balanced economy, working to grow the working population and higher average household incomes".
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A conference was held at the Weigh Inn hotel in Thurso on February 9 and, to ensure it was addressing the correct topics and community interests, the communications consultancy group (3x1) which hosted the event conducted three surveys ahead of it.
A spokesperson for 3x1 said: "To complement the event’s extensive stakeholder engagement, three surveys were undertaken to inform content on the day, but also importantly to help shape the Focus North action programme."
Some key points:
- A third of event attendees responded to the pre-event survey
- A representative group of engineering students at the local college were polled
- 160 local school students in the upper three years of the local high schools completed a survey run by the Developing the Young Workforce
Some themes were seen as important across all these groups, but younger respondents saw some issues as more important.
"Across the board issues such as ensuring the right skills to meet needs are available by retaining training and growing the working population; transportation links; digital connectivity; and housing availability were seen as vital.
"Younger respondents valued work-life balance very highly but were worried about personal finances and individual confidence," added the 3x1 spokesperson.
The research showed that the majority of young people in the region were "keen to stay in the area if they could find secure employment that provided a good work-life balance".
- 60 per cent of young people said they wanted to stay in the area
- 76 per cent of respondents identified renewable energy as the biggest regional opportunity
- 41 per cent of respondents identified poor regional transportation as a risk to the region
- 75 per cent of respondents believed digital connectivity to be either a high or very high risk to the region’s development
- 83 per cent of respondents believed availability of suitable employment as the most important to creating an attractive region
