ST HELENS enjoyed the second highest growth in jobs creation in the North West between 2016 and 2017 but still faces significant economic challenges, a council report says.

Cabinet members at the local authority were presented with a document outlining an update on the council's approach to growing the economy.

In it was stated that in October the government released jobs growth data for the period 2016 to 2017, which revealed an additional 4,000 employee jobs created in the borough.

This signified a growth rate of 6.8 per cent, more than five percentage points greater than the regional average.

It was added: "St Helens recorded the second largest growth in jobs in the North West".

This topped the overall Liverpool City Region rate of 1.6 per cent, with the North West average at 1.4 per cent and England at 1.3 per cent.

This meant that out of 9,000 jobs created in the city region, St Helens made up 44 per cent of them.

In 2010, the main employment sector for St Helens was retail and wholesale, accounting for 19 per cent of jobs, but this dropped to 12.2 per cent by 2018.

It was said the borough has seen "a growth in the proportion employed in transport and storage, professional, scientific and

technical and well as business administration employment".

Meanwhile, the public sector in St Helens is "smaller proportionally" than is the case nationally.

It was also recorded the Gross Value Added (GVA), a measure of economic output for economies, of the East Merseyside area which includes St Helens, had increased by 25 per cent between 2009 and 2016; almost 5 percentage points more than the England average.

This was significantly greater than the rest of the Liverpool City Region and one of the highest rates of growth in the North of England.

In terms of businesses, the borough "has a higher proportion of small and medium sized" firms than nationally, the report added.

The St Helens business base was found to have grown by 30 per cent between 2010 and 2018.

Meanwhile, the "business survival rate", which is the proportion of businesses that survive three years and five years after formation, is "broadly the same as for the City Region and nationally".

However, despite the upturn it was noted "St Helens continues to suffer from low levels of economic activity and employment".

There are still 27,900 people considered "economically inactive" in St Helens according to the report, more than a quarter (25.6 per cent) of the working age population.

This is higher than the North West's 23.3 per cent and Great Britain's 21.6 per cent.

It was noted that, of the 27,900 who are economically inactive, 7,300 want a job and 21.3 per cent of households in St Helens are ‘workless households’ – where no individual is in employment.

It was concluded: "On the whole therefore, St Helens continues to suffer from low levels of economic activity and employment. The challenge is particularly pronounced amongst certain cohorts of the population".