Employee costs in Tyne and Wear are highly competitive and a major overhead benefit for investors considering relocation to the region.

Traditionally Tyne and Wear has had a large manual labour pool. Many have adapted over recent years and equipped themselves with major skill sets.

Average gross weekly earnings by occupational group (£)

Occupation	Tyne & Wear Men	Tyne & Wear Women	North East Men	North East Women	Great Britain Men	Great Britain Women
Managers and Senior Officials	683.4	553.4	683.4	527.6	828.3	596.4
Professional Occupations	713.8	606.5	688.4	587.2	716.9	604.9
Associate Professional and Technical	511.4	462.1	495.9	441.5	584.7	474.2
Administrative and Secretarial	337.3	316.2	351.2	308.3	388.2	334.9
Skilled Trades	423.9	255.5	422.1	271.5	435.0	308.0
Personal Service	307.1	289.7	290.1	269.6	324.3	279.2
Sales and Customer Service	301.0	270.5	310.4	267.9	324.5	269.2
Process Plant and Machine Operatives	376.5	284.7	384.1	268.6	397.4	286.6
Elementary Occupations	306.0	241.5	310.1	238.3	327.9	250.8
All Occupations	477.2	393.7	473.7	379.6	559.4	421.3

Source: Annual Survery of Hours and Earnings 2004