FACT: Hourly earnings in North Yorkshire have grown at the same rate as the rest of Britain but wages in the region trail behind the national average.

FACT: The population in York and North Yorkshire isn't rising as fast as it is in West Yorkshire. Latest figures show our region's numbers increasing by four per cent between 1991 and 1995 compared with West Yorkshire's 4.6 per cent rise in the same period.

FACT: The manufacturing sector accounts for just 6.4 per cent of the total number of businesses, yet also accounts for one in seven employees - some distance behind Yorkshire and Humberside where about one in five is employed in manufacturing.

These are a few details among dozens supplied in two free information bulletins just launched to help North Yorkshire's business leaders and organisations understand their place in both the region and Britain.

The bulletins, titled Labour Market Review and Outlook Europe are the first of what will eventually be eight bulletins produced by North Yorkshire Training and Enterprise Council over the course of 1998.

Typical topics covered in coming months will include rising and declining industries, areas of low and high unemployment, exporting, skills and qualifications and general benchmarking of the local economy against national and international competitors.

For copies of either bulletin, or to be added to the mailing list, phone Mark Hinman on 01904 691939.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.