Wales

Abstract

Inward investment from the rest of Britain and overseas was overshadowed by contraction of the coal and steel industries until the early 1990s as well as the decline in agricultural work. A great Japanese presence in Welsh manufacturing helps to explain why manufacturing employment in 1991 equalled that of 1981. During this period the service sector, especially leisure and tourism, grew so that there was a slight increase in employment over the decade. Economic change has shown marked geographical shifts. In South Wales, where employment for women exceeds that for men, the coastal lowlands have been economically successful, and the North east Wales economy is also expected to grow, but development in rural Wales has met with more mixed success. A number of government initiatives and several new developments are recorded. There has been a dramatic reshaping of Welsh economic geography in the last quarter of the 20th century. -D.G.Price