Economy Sunderland
Below in a 2004 summary of Employment figures for the City of Sunderland.
Employment in Sunderland by sector - 2004 |
|
Sector |
% Employed |
Public Administration, |
29.7 |
Distribution, Hotels |
22.7 |
Manufacturing |
16.8 |
Finance, IT |
16.3 |
Construction |
4.4 |
Other services |
4.3 |
Transport and Communications |
4.2 |
Agriculture, Energy & Water |
1.6 |
The city has benefited hugely from its location, both to the River Wear and the vast coal suppliers that lay underneath the city. Ship building and coal mining were huge industries over the centuries causing thousands of new migrant workers and many new houses being built to house the new workers.
During the late 20th century the heavy industry of the city went in to decline as with many UK cities at that time. Ship building and coal mining died out in the 1980’s with over 30,000 jobs lost.
The population of 290.000 covers an area of 137km2 making it the biggest city on the eastern side of the UK, north of Leeds and south of Edinburgh.
Sunderland grew rapidly in the industries of shipbuilding and coal mining and today has one of the largest automotive manufacturing centres in Europe and a large call centre industry. Sunderland arc, which was founded in May 2002, is responsible for looking after and improving Sunderland’s economy, quality of life and infrastructure.
Sunderland is also one of the UK’s most thriving business locations with stiff competition. It is home to many large companies such as, Nissan, Rolls-Royce, Barclays, T-Mobile and EDF Energy. From 2002-2007 over 9,000 new jobs have been created.
The Tyne and Wear metro is the backbone of the transport network in the area, providing links to many key areas.