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Ross Smith, Head of Policy and Research at the North-East Chamber of Commerce »
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Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
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Andrea Wilkinson of Shared Interest is visiting Swaziland to deliver business training »
Jonathan Wheatley from Stokesley-based MC Ware writes about IT matters »
Mark Lisgo is a Northeasterner who works for law firm Eversheds in Abu Dhabi, UAE »
Paul Williamson from Deloitte »I was at an event yesterday to discuss future research work by the Northern Way into policies which will help close the £30bn North-South output gap.
One of the interesting questions lingering in the background, however, is how the North East is actually managing to do this already.
Recent trends show a steady clawing back of the gap between the region and the rest of the country on a series of important indicators.
Most impressive was the recent economic growth rates. The latest data only relates to 2006, but it showed the region far outstripping the national average and out-performing all regions outside of London.
But yesterday we saw up to date stats which shows the region's amazing recent performance is continuing to improve. Employment stats showed the region has again performed far better than the national average over the past year and is getting closer and closer to the UK rate.
Indeed, I was talking last night to a new NECC member who has recently moved to the North East because he was told what a great place it is to do business. Now he's set up his business here, he agrees - but the problem he faces now is finding people to fill vacancies at his company. It highlighted how we need to respond correctly to the recent growth in this region, which includes doing all we can to make sure the supply of skilled workers remains.
But it's a far nicer problem for the region to have than some of the others we've faced in our history.
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