Eden's skills are closer to the national profile
than the rest of Cumbria. As such, the District has a relatively
greater proportion of degree-level qualifications than the County
but also suffers from larger numbers with no qualifications. Whilst
the District has above regional and national level proportions of
intermediate skills, this is not as marked as for Cumbria as a
whole.
This divergence from the rest of the County is
probably due to a number of factors, including in- migration by
highly skilled individuals attracted by the District's lifestyle,
and the low skills requirements of much of the agricultural and
tourism sectors.
The 2000 Cumbria Household Survey also reveals a
number of issues about the Eden workforce:
- More residents in Eden (23%) than anywhere else
in Cumbria worked in a business which they felt was dependent on
tourism.
- Economic activity rates are high, with multiple
jobs being more frequent than average in Eden (7%) and more people
than average working in small firms.
- Three-quarters of working residents work in
Eden, whilst seven per cent work in Carlisle, and three percent in
both Allerdale and South Lakeland.
- Eden lags National Learning Targets for
England at both levels 3 and 4 by a half.
