People in Swindon have an expectancy of a healthy life less than the rest of England, they are less happy and satisfied than average.
They are also more economically productive but are paid less than average, according to a new council report.
Members of Swindon Borough Council’s scrutiny committee will be told of benchmarking measurements made in Swindon against the central government's 12 Levelling Up priorities.
There are 12 specific p-priorities ranging from increasing employment, pay and productivity, investing in research and development, better public transport, better performance by children in school, increased broadband speeds, increased healthy life expectancy and well-being, more people buying their first home and falling rates of crime.
How Swindon measures up to the rest of the country is something of a mixed bag.
Workers in the borough are nearly £13 more productive per hour worked than the national average but, on average, are paid £28.3 less a week. And Swindon’s employment rate which was significantly higher than the national in March 2020 has dropped to just above the national rate at 75.3 p[er cent.
Swindon does well on average travel time to work and has a significantly better rate of high-speed internet than the rest of the country on average.
School pupils are three percentage points behind the national average for meeting expected standards in reading, writing and maths by the end of primary school and a similar distance behind the curve in achieving GCSEs in English and Maths.
Although significantly fewer people in Swindon die from cardiovascular diseases under the age of 75 than the national average, it is the case that both men and women in the borough can, on average, expect to live a shorter healthy life than the rest of the country 61.4 years for men and 62.2 for women, both 1.7 years below the national mean.
And Swindonians are about average, but on the low side, when it comes to life satisfaction, happiness and the “feeling that things done in life are worthwhile” but they also feel less anxiety.
The committee will meet at 6pm on Monday November 14 at the council offices to discuss the report.
The public can attend or follow the proceedings online from a link on Swindon.gov.uk.
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