Census highlights Sunderland's qualifications challenge

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show 125,945 people were eligible to work in Sunderland at the time of the last census in March 2021.

Of them, 9.8% – 12,355 people - had no formal qualifications whatsoever.

The data also shows that 10.9% had at least one GCSE or equivalent qualification, 17% had five or more GCSEs at A* to C to levels nine to four, 22.5% had two A-levels or equivalent, and 32.2% had a degree or higher education qualification.

Combining all these figures into a composite score means Sunderland has the least-qualified workforce in the North East.

The figures also show big regional disparities from Boston, in Lincolnshire, having 19% of workers with no qualifications, to the City of London where the figure is 3.7%.

The census data also found the types of jobs people did also tracked closely with qualification differences.

The figures show 17,727 (15.1%) of 117,151 workers in Sunderland were in professional occupations.

Across England and Wales, 5.6 million people (22.2%) worked in a professional occupation.

The Resolution Foundation think tank – which campaigns to raise standards for low and middle-income families – called on policy makers to boost and broaden people's skill sets.

Hannah Slaughter, senior economist at the Foundation, said: "Qualifications and training are an important driver of employability and pay growth.

“Policy makers and firms need to do far more both boost and broaden people’s skills and qualifications and help to 'level up' the country."