Skills & Qualifications

Qualifications (January 2006 - December 2006)

Wrexham has a similar rate (about 1 in 6) of people without qualifications as Wales or Great Britain (just over 1 in 7) average. Wrexham also has lower rates of all levels of qualifications than Wales or Great Britain averages; the difference is more marked at the higher qualification levels (NVQ3 and above).

Qualification	Wrexham (Number)	Wrexham (%)	Wales (%)	Great Britain (%)
NVQ4 and above	17,800	22	24.3	27.4
NVQ3 and above	31,900	29.4	42.8	45.3
NVQ2 and above	48,300	59.5	62.9	63.8
NVQ1 and above	60,500	74.7	76.7	77.7
Other Qualifications	6,300	7.8	7	8.5
No Qualifications	14,200	17.5	16.2	13.8

Note: Numbers and % are for those of working age. % is a proportion of total working age population.

Source: ONS Annual Population Survey

Destination of School Leavers

About 16 in every 20 school leavers intended continuing in education or work-based training which is slightly lower than in Wales as a whole, where there were about 17 in every 20.

A significantly higher number from Wrexham than Wales as a whole were entering employment (8% compared with 5.4% respectively).

Wrexham

Destination	Year 11		Year 12		Year 13		All
Destination	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%
Continuing in full time education (in school)	235	15.8	176	68.2	34	22.2	445	23.4
Continuing in full time education (in college)	851	57.2	39.0	15.1	7	4.6	897	47.2
Continuing in full time education (in higher education)					70	45.8	70	3.7
Taking a gap year (intending to go to HE following year)					4	2.6	4	0.2
Work based training - non employed status	52	3.5	7	2.7	0	0.0	59	3.1
Work based training - employment status	23	1.5	1	0.4	1	0.7	25	1.3
Employed - other	122	8.2	15	5.8	20	13.1	157	8.3
Known not to be in education, training or employment	133	8.9	8	3.1	5	3.3	146	7.7
No response to survey	42	2.8	8	3.1	10	6.5	60	3.2
Left the area	30	2	4	1.6	2	1.3	36	1.9
Total number in cohort	1488	100	258	100	153	100	1899	100

Wales

Destination	Year 11		Year 12		Year 13		All
Destination	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%
Continuing in full time education (in school)	30,405	77.2	14,019	87.0	9,525	79.7	53,949	80.0
Continuing in full time education (in college)	30,405	77.2	14,019	87.0	9,525	79.7	53,949	80.0
Continuing in full time education (in higher education)					9,525	79.7	53,949	80.0
Taking a gap year (intending to go to HE following year)					9,525	79.7	53,949	80.0
Work based training - non employed status	2,064	5.2	271	1.7	33	0.3	2,368	3.5
Work based training - employment status	804	2	122	0.8	112	0.9	1,038	1.5
Employed - other	1,726	4.4	729	4.5	1,256	10.5	3,711	5.5
Known not to be in education, training or employment	2,707	6.9	524	3.3	549	4.6	3,780	5.6
No response to survey	931	2.4	344	2.1	363	3.0	1,638	2.4
Left the area	759	1.9	105	0.7	112	0.9	976	1.4
Total number in cohort	39,396	100	16,114	100	11,950	100	67,460	100

Source: Careers Wales, Destination of School Leavers at the end of compulsory Education 2007.

Skills Shortages

A survey by Future Skills Wales in 2005 revealed that there are skills lacking amongst employees in Wales.This shows that problem solving, customer handling skills, technical and practical skills, communication, team working, management and general IT skills featured most prominently in the skills gap list.

Skills	% of establishments
Problem solving skills	58
Customer handling skills	57
Other technical and practical skills	52
Communication skills	49
Teamworking skills	49
Management skills	40
General IT user skills	40
IT professional skills	26
Using numbers	25
Literacy skills	23
Welsh language skills	23
Work experience (unspecified)	3
Sales / Marketing skills	3
Other	2
Time management/keeping	2
Motivation/behaviour	2
Don't know/no answer	3

These results are only produced at an all Wales level and as such are only a general indication of current trends, although, of course, these may differ in Wrexham.

Cymraeg