Economy
The district is generally rural, with no towns approaching the size of Hull. There are a few market towns such as Beverley, Driffield, Goole, Market Weighton and Pocklington, and the coastal towns of Bridlington, Hornsea and Withernsea. In the south the district contains areas such as Hessle which are part of the Hull urban area but outside the city boundaries. Rural areas tend to have a greater business stock than urban areas, reflecting the number of agricultural businesses and small businesses in rural areas. 20% of all VAT registered businesses in the East Riding are in agriculture and related sectors, although the number of such businesses fell by 40% between 1997 and 2003. Easington, on the coast, is the site of a natural gas terminal, Easington Gas Terminal, used for the Langeled pipeline, as well as three other gas terminals operated by BP and Centrica.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of East Riding of Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 2,708 | 299 | 896 | 1,513 |
| 2000 | 3,006 | 209 | 1,090 | 1,707 |
| 2003 | 3,783 | 233 | 1,106 | 2,444 |
- a Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
- b includes hunting and forestry
- c includes energy and construction
- d includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
The East Riding is characterised by a high employment rate and a relatively low unemployment level. The overall unemployment rate is 4.3%, which is 1.2 percentage points lower than the national average. However, there are unemployment hotspots in Bridlington, Goole and Withernsea. Unemployment levels tend to fluctuate over the course of the year with lower levels during the summer months due to increased employment in the tourism and food production sectors. A major year-round employer in the East Riding is the Defence School of Transport at RAF Leconfield, which trains 14,000 personnel from the Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Marines each year and provides more than 1,000 civilian jobs.
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has joined Hull City Council, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire Councils in the Hull and Humber Ports City Region Partnership.
Read more about this topic: East Yorkshire
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“It enhances our sense of the grand security and serenity of nature to observe the still undisturbed economy and content of the fishes of this century, their happiness a regular fruit of the summer.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)