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 The Herefordshire and Worcestershire subregion is a mix of rural and urban covering an area of 1,500 square miles. 76% of the population live in Worcestershire. The two counties have a high number of small to medium enterprises and less than 2% of registered businesses have 100-500 employees. Many employed people are part-time or on short-term contracts. Unemployment is low (less than 2%) but salaries in the subregion are amongst the lowest in the West Midlands and below the national average.
The subregion performs well in compulsory education, particularly in Herefordshire where progression to further and higher education are high. Worcestershire LEA however has below average performance at Key Stage 2 and GCSE level and combined progression rates to higher education are 32-35%. However, this masks pockets of serious underperformance. There is only one higher education institution situated in the subregion and higher education level courses are delivered by a number of providers including the University of Birmingham, the Open University, Marches Consortium and further education colleges.
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