27/05/04 - Household survey to help local labour market

A survey of 3,000 households in Cumbria starts next week. It will focus on the local labour market and concentrate on skills, qualifications and employment issues. The survey, commissioned by 'The Cumbria Economic Intelligence Partnership', runs until mid July.    

The results will help the County and District Councils, FE Colleges, Cumbria Learning and Skills Council, the Cumbria Inward Investment Agency, the Lake District National Park, and Cumbria Tourist Board plan activities.   

County Councillor Lawson Short, Cabinet Member responsible for economic issues explains:   

"It is vital that we understand all we can about our local labour market. The County Council is one of the key funders of the Economic Intelligence Partnership and the results will help us to focus our policies. The work will also help our partners across Cumbria target training and development programmes. It will support work to attract new investment funding from both the public and private sector." 

BMG Research, a consultancy company with a strong background in studies of this type, will carry out the survey. The survey takes about half an hour to complete. Visits will take place in evenings and at weekends until the middle of July 2004. The survey builds on a series of similar studies over the last ten years.