Physics-based industries and the economy of Wales

Physics-based industries are integral to the Welsh economy employing 4% of the workforce and contributing 10% of the output of Wales plc.

The direct application of physics is crucial to the success of industries such as aerospace, telecommunications and electronics; the results of physics research underpin innovations ranging from airport security scanners to renewable energy generation. For these successes to continue, we must support physics research and business that depend on physics.

Physics-based sectors in Wales account for*:

• 50 000 jobs, 4.4% of the workforce, more jobs than in the finance sector and the construction sector
• 10% of GVA, £4.1 billion contributed to the economy; more than double the contributions from the construction (4.3%) and finance (3.9%) sectors
• £13 billion in turnover, more than that of the construction and finance sectors
• high value jobs: the GVA per employee is £80 000, double the national average

Physics-based industries make a greater impact in Wales than in the UK as a whole, accounting for 14.3% of total national turnover compared with 8.6% in the UK as a whole, and 10% of GVA compared with the 6.4% due to physics-based sectors in the UK. The productivity (GVA per employee) of physics-based sectors in Wales is 14% higher than that of physics-based sectors in the UK.

*Based on 2005 figures. Full data can be seen in the report, The Importance of Physics to the Welsh Economy, commissioned by the Institute of Physics and produced by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

What is a physics-based industry?

A physics-based industry is one whose success and survival depends on the application of new physics research. Physics-based industries include:

• oil and gas extraction and refinement
• nuclear power
• high-technology manufacturing
• medical technologies
• telecommunications
• research and development
• defence

While the majority of people working in physics-based sectors will not be directly engaging in ‘physics’ through their everyday work, the existence of the sectors (and so their jobs), is critically dependent on physics. A large proportion of jobs in the physics-based industries in Wales are in high-technology manufacturing, with significant numbers employed in aerospace and electronics manufacture.

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