Overview
Lichfield’s economic landscape presents a diverse range of sectors with significant contributions from professional, scientific, technical activities, and construction. Notably, the city has maintained stable employment levels with a noteworthy increase in certain sectors, reflecting a dynamic business environment. However, the city faces challenges in terms of gender diversity in leadership roles and needs to foster more scaleups and high-growth companies.
Employment and Business Growth
- Total Employees: Lichfield has a total of 123,889 employees. The city has seen a positive trend in employment with 25 companies reporting a rise in employee numbers, indicating a robust job market.
- Employee Growth: The percentage growth in employees stands at 9.77%, signifying healthy business expansion across sectors.
- Top Sectors by Employment: Professional, scientific, and technical activities lead with 1,329 companies, followed by construction (984 companies), and wholesale/retail trade (905 companies).
- Sectors with Highest Growth: Notable growth is seen in materials technology, other technology/IP-based businesses, and automotive sectors, each with an emergence of new companies.
- Scaleups: There are 38 scaleups in the city, suggesting a moderate level of entrepreneurial success and business scalability.
Business Continuity
- Company Cessations: Over the past two years, Lichfield witnessed 767 company closures. This figure highlights the need for improved business sustainability strategies in the region.
- New Companies: The city saw 912 new companies emerge, indicating a thriving startup ecosystem and business opportunities.
- SMEs and Exporters: With 6,343 SMEs and 224 exporters, Lichfield demonstrates a strong small and medium-sized enterprise sector with international trade engagement.
- Foreign Parent Companies: The presence of 185 companies with foreign parentage underlines the city’s attractiveness to international investors.
- Fundraising and Patents: There have been 6 fundraising events and 330 patent owners, showcasing an environment conducive to innovation and investment.
Gender Diversity in Leadership
- Founders: The percentage of female founders is 6.67%, male founders at 91.11%, highlighting a significant gender gap in entrepreneurial ventures.
- Directors: Female directors constitute 28.40%, while male directors dominate at 68.33%. This disparity points towards the need for more inclusive leadership policies.
Conclusion
Lichfield’s economic and business activity shows a robust and diversified business environment with strong potential for growth. However, challenges such as improving gender diversity in leadership roles and enhancing business continuity strategies need to be addressed to sustain this growth trajectory.