A place to grow

How do the Channel Islands achieve good growth? PwC recently convened a group of public and private sector leaders in the Island to explore what good growth means, as a contribution to the debate on long-term strategy. Wendy Dorman and Ali Cambray of PwC, share some of the messages arising.

The public view of economic health is influenced by a range of factors. The Demos-PwC Good Growth Index was first developed in 2011 and compares 12 indicators across 37 cities in the UK annually.

While the Index includes traditional views of success like jobs and disposable income, it also includes wider aspects of good growth including health, work-life balance, housing affordability and owner-occupation, commuting time, skills levels, income distribution and environmental factors.

Uniquely, these indicators, and their relative importance in the Index, were chosen based on a UK-wide survey of what the public say are most important to them about where they live in relation to the economic area of their lives. This is critical to helping places define themselves, focusing investment and resource allocation.

How Jersey compares

We ran the data for Jersey and found that it compares very positively to other, mostly much larger, cities and travel-to-work areas in the UK on the Demos-PwC Good Growth Index, falling just outside the top 10. Jersey meets comparatively more of the factors that the public say are important for their economic wellbeing, including low unemployment and a good work-life balance. This highlights the continued overall benefits and attractiveness of doing business in Jersey. We enjoy a comparatively high quality of life and it’s a good place to live and work.

However, the Index also highlighted some opportunities for further improvement, particularly in making sure we continue to improve skills and education standards in line with the leading world economies, and that we continue to work to address inequality.

PwC shared this as a starting point for some recent round-table discussions that brought public and private sector leaders in Jersey together to discuss further what good growth means in the future and how we can get there.

Defining our future “story of place”

The good score on the Index doesn’t mean we can afford to be complacent. The Channel Islands, with our economic dependency on financial services, and in common with many other island economies, are potentially vulnerable to external shocks and stresses. It’s important that government, businesses and citizens work together to identify opportunities to sustain what we have and diversify into connected areas that build on our core strengths.

PwC’s Stepping Stones to Good Growth sets out the challenge for places to unlock their potential as engines of sustainable growth and to define their brand, investing in the enablers that business requires to succeed. A demand-driven skills system, value-adding infrastructure and a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem are needed, with good growth at the heart of the purpose and mission of our public bodies.

The round-table discussions in Jersey found there’s a need to set out clearly what we want to be known for in a rapidly-changing world and a global marketplace. Being a “safe pair of hands” is more important than ever as emerging markets look to trusted jurisdictions for safeguarding of assets. There’s also an opportunity to better connect Jersey’s external brand, products and services with how we look after our own island community and environment, adding important credibility. This could be in areas such as philanthropy, impact investment, social enterprise and environmental policy.

Creating a shared platform for action

Set in this context, the round-table discussions highlighted many other opportunities for action in Jersey, for example:

  • Measures to support business growth; to support companies in early stages of growth, to connect businesses to export markets and to ensure that Jersey remains competitive and “open for business” compared to other jurisdictions
  • Improving access to a skilled workforce should continue to be both a short-term and long-term priority
  • Businesses in all sectors in Jersey need to transform to reap the benefits of a digital society

Business leaders want to see the best conditions locally for their businesses to prosper, whilst public bodies want to see their local area thrive. There’s a need for strong leadership; from government as an enabler of good growth, but also from the private sectors, education and skills sector, non-profit and community groups and citizens.

All need to share in the risks and the dividends of public service reform and sustainable economic growth. A formal partnership between the public and private sector and community leaders, that co-owns a shared vision of the future for Jersey and co-leads implementation of a long-term strategic planning framework for the Island, could be the key to unlocking the good growth of the future.

Contact us

Alison Cambray

Advisory Director, Sustainability, PwC Channel Islands

Tel: +44 7700 838337

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