The proportion of businesses in Sussex by sector is in-line with the south east region. We have 2.8% lower numbers of businesses in banking, finance and insurance although it does remain the largest sector in terms of business units. We also have a slightly higher proportion of businesses in manufacturing (7.2% compared to 6.8%) and distribution, hotels and restaurants (26.9% compared to 25.9%).

The number of employee jobs within Sussex by sector generally reflects the proportion of the South East region. It's worth noting that public administration, education and health is our largest employment sector at 28.2% and this is 3.5% higher than the south east regional as a whole. This contrasts strongly with the fact that it only accounts for 9.2% of business unit numbers in Sussex reflecting the number of large public service employers within the county.

Micro and small business sizes in Sussex make up 97.1% of all business in Sussex. The largest employers are found in the public, admin, education & health sector but even within that sector 58% of business units are micro-enterprises and 42% are small businesses.

Crawley has the highest job density within Sussex, (jobs in proportion to the working age population), which can be explained by the large number of jobs created by Gatwick Airport. While Adur has the lowest job density suggesting high unemployment or residents are not employed locally.

Part-time employment in Sussex is higher than other areas in the South East at 37.6% of which 74% are female. While of the 62% of people in Sussex in full-time employment only 40% are female.

Download a summary of the GVA for the South East.

Predictions for the future

The Working Futures project predicts that between now and 2014 a change in employment will mean an extra 41,000 jobs. According to their predictions this will come from a 32% increase in part-time jobs. Part-time employment can offer greater flexibility for taking part in part-time education, which may provide a growing potential audiance for part-time vocational provision.

Trends in employment by occupation suggest that despite a decline in the number of groups of occupations over the next decade demand for higher level occupations will increase. This implies that there will be an increase in the need for higher levels of skills and qualifications.

Economic & business development

• Economic development provides details of organisations with an interest in or role in coordinating economic development within or covering Sussex.
• Business development provides details of organisation who advise, support and represent business in Sussex.