Successful businesses are built on a skilled and loyal workforce – and North East England can provide both.
We have some of the lowest staff attrition rates in the UK. That gives companies the confidence to recruit, train and invest in their teams. It also reduces the considerable costs of high staff turnover, meaning businesses can focus their time and investment on growth plans.
The region has a large pool of workers in the financial, professional and business services sector. 134,000 people are employed in business services, ensuring a constant flow of staff with financial, technical and administrative skills. Workers in this talent pool are highly skilled in digital and business innovation with specialisms in languages, data analytics, business management and administration.
Our colleges and universities offer nearly 500 courses for the financial, professional and business services sector, providing a strong pipeline of new skilled workers every year.
There are over 124,000 students at our five universities.
Accolades include Northumbria University, being named modern university of the year 2024, Newcastle University is ranked 7th in the UK in the Communication and Media Studies category (The Complete University Guide 2025), Durham University is ranked 89th in the world top 100 universities
(QS World University Rankings 2025) and Sunderland University is ranked 33rd (The Guardian League table, 2024).
We are also proud to welcome a high rate of overseas students to the region to offer a multi-lingual workforce that is equipped to support global businesses.
