Swindon has been named the UK’s most ’employee-friendly’ city, with Thames Valley neighbour Reading in the top five.
Using a range of publicly-available data – from average salaries and unemployment rates to the price of a coffee and a bus ticket – number crunchers at Adobe Express placed Swindon in the top spot, with Reading in fourth place.
The survey also used search volume – the total number of job searches which specified the name of the city – in its methodology, as well as access to green spaces.
The average salary in Swindon – according to the survey – is £35,605, but the cost of living is relatively lower than other cities on the index – a coffee is £2.98 – the second lowest on the top ten – and a public transport ticket is £2.40.
And with large employers like BMW, Zurich and Nationwide Building Society levels of unemployment were the lowest in the top ten at 2.4 per cent while the job search volume was a whopping 198,000 – fourth highest on the list.
Up the M4 in Reading, the average salary is £40,570 but employees who need regular coffees to keep going will be spending more – at £3.52 the second highest on the list.
Meanwhile, the job search volume was 130,600.
The report’s authors noted: “The Swindon and Wiltshire area has an above average number of large companies, including brands like BMW, Ministry of Defence and Nationwide Building Society. Swindon also ranks seventh in Britain when it comes to the rate of productivity per worker.
“There are various other factors that contribute to Swindon’s employee-friendly reputation, the first being its general affordability. An inexpensive meal costs around £14 in the city, and an average cappuccino would set you back just £2.98.
“With a search volume of 198,000 for ‘jobs in Swindon’, there’s clearly an eagerness to find employment in the city.”
On Reading, the authors noted: “While it’s one of the more expensive locations for food and drink, there’s plenty of green space to enjoy (42 per cent).
“And, if you’re a commuter, you’ll be happy to know that public transport is fairly reasonable, coming in at an average of £2.20 per ticket.”
Adobe Express is a cloud-based app that lets users create content including social media posts, CVs and business cards.
