Workforce Strategy

6. About Our Workforce

Nationally, we know that around 30% of the UK’s workforce is aged over 50 years, and that this percentage will continue to increase. Locally, since the 2011 Census, Carmarthenshire has seen an increase of almost 19% in the number of people aged 65 years and over and a decrease of 2.5% in people aged 15 to 64 years. Given the socio / economic situation and increase in the cost of living with higher inflation, many people will inevitably be working for longer. However, it is recognised that the pandemic has had an impact on the personal choices some people are taking in relation to early retirement, reduced hours, and the need for a more flexible working environment.

As our population grows older, it is not feasible to simply replace those retiring with younger people. We will therefore need to reflect on how we look after our workforce’s health and wellbeing to help extend their working lives.

We are also one of the largest employers in the County and currently employ:

• 8,665 people (6,566 FTEs) occupying 5,022 posts with just under 100 workers being employed via an employment agency at any given time.
• 45% of our people have more than 10 years’ service.
• 27% are likely to retire in the next ten years.
• 11.77% of our people have a declared disability.
• The median salary in the Council is £27,128
• Voluntary turnover is currently running at 9.11%, which is below the UK average.

Table 1 below provides a detailed age profile breakdown:

Table 1

The following pie charts provide a further breakdown of our current workforce: