Trafford - Economy

Economy

Historically, the economy of the Trafford area has been dominated by agriculture. This continued to some extent even during the Industrial Revolution, as the textile industry in Trafford did not develop as quickly or to the same extent as it did in the rest of Greater Manchester. There are only two known 18th-century mill sites in Trafford, compared with 69 known in Tameside and 51 in Manchester. After reaching a high of 43% in 1812, employment in the textile industry in Trafford declined to 12% according to the 1851 census. The textile industry in Trafford could not compete with that in places such as Manchester, Oldham, and Ashton-under-Lyne, partly because of a reluctance to invest in industry on the part of the two main land owners in the area: the Stamfords and the de Traffords.

Trafford Park was founded in 1897, and at its peak in 1945 employed 75,000 people. As well as being the world's first planned industrial estate, it is Europe's largest business park. More than 1,400 companies are within the park, employing between 40,000 and 50,000 people. The Trafford Centre, which opened on 10 September 1998, is North West England's largest indoor shopping complex. The centre has over 30 million visitors annually, and contains 235 stores, 55 restaurants, and the largest Odeon cinema in the UK.

Trafford compared
2001 UK Census Trafford Greater Manchester England
Population of working age 151,445 1,805,315 35,532,091
Full-time employment 43.4% 40.3% 40.8%
Part-time employment 11.9% 11.3% 11.8%
Self-employed 8.0% 6.7% 8.3%
Unemployed 2.7% 3.5% 3.3%
Retired 13.9% 13.0% 13.5%

Trafford is a prosperous area, with an average weekly income of £394, and apart from Manchester it is the only borough in Greater Manchester to be above the national average for weekly income and is on average the highest in the county. Media, advertising and public relations have been identified as growth industries in Greater Manchester and are concentrated in Manchester and Trafford. Average house prices in Trafford are the highest out of all the metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester, 45% higher than the average for the county.

As of the 2001 UK census, Trafford had 151,445 residents aged 16 to 74. 2.5% of these people were students with jobs, 5.7% looking after home or family, 5.4% permanently sick or disabled and 2.8% economically inactive for other reasons. Trafford has a low rate of unemployment (2.7%) compared with Greater Manchester (3.6%) and England as a whole (3.3%). Trafford has the lowest number of unemployment benefit claimants compared to all the other boroughs in Greater Manchester (3.7%).

In 2001, of 99,146 residents of Trafford in employment, the industry of employment was 17.1% property and business services, 16.5% retail and wholesale, 12.3% manufacturing, 11.9% health and social work, 8.2% education, 8.0% transport and communications, 5.9% construction, 5.5% finance, 4.5% public administration and defence, 4.0% hotels and restaurants, 0.8% energy and water supply, 0.6% agriculture, and 4.6% other. This was roughly in line with national figures, except for the proportion of jobs in agriculture which is less than half the national average, reflecting Trafford's suburban nature and its proximity to the centre of Manchester.

A study commissioned by Experian rated Trafford as the strongest and most resilient borough in North West England to dealing with sudden changes in the economy. Trafford's low reliance on vulnerable businesses in the current recession and its high proportion of multinational companies were two factors which give the borough its high ranking.

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