New report identifies Greater Manchester as creative talent hub

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and LinkedIn, the professional network, have launched Greater Creators, a new report containing a detailed snapshot of skills and employment in the Greater Manchester region.

The report marks the first time UK local government will use LinkedIn data to inform digital training and skills provision in education and workplaces.

The findings show Greater Manchester is an economic hub and centre for creative talent, and provides new insights into the impact on skills in the area:

• The top three skillsets Manchester is winning from London are digital marketing, user interface design, TV and video production.
• Game development, theatre and drama, writing and publishing, social media marketing and TV and video production are among the top skills flowing into the area overall.
• Camera operation was the skill most likely to get people hired in the 12 months to August 2015.

Commenting on Greater Creators, Tony Lloyd, Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Greater Manchester is delighted to work with LinkedIn to explore how we use their expertise and knowledge to help us improve our skills offer and boost the city-region’s economy.

"As the first European region to establish this kind of partnership Greater Manchester is outlining its ambition to lead the UK in skills provision. We are also establishing ourselves as a leading and innovative global city in the use of data to shape policy and improve lives.”

Josh Graff, Country Manager, LinkedIn UK, added: “Our goal is to create economic opportunity for everyone in the global workforce. We have a wealth of data and can provide policy-makers with unique insights into the labour market, enabling them to shape policy, foster skills development, and create opportunity in Manchester and elsewhere across Britain.”

The report is the first result of the Project Manchester campaign in 2015, a joint effort between the GMCA and LinkedIn to help the Authority understand, and plan, for its skills gaps as it forecasts 110,000 new jobs in the next decade.

To understand the labour market dynamic, LinkedIn examined the aggregated profile information of its 614,000 members within Greater Manchester, looking specifically at four key factors: workforce and skills, hiring, migration, and education.