In terms of official economic competitiveness, South Lanarkshire lags behind the UK in a number of key areas – in employment, wealth generation, enterprise activity and qualification levels. Its strengths are in its Manufacturing sector, its High Technology base and unemployment tends to be less long term.
 

Projections of the main measurement of economic performance – GDP – suggest that South Lanarkshire will see slightly faster growth over the next 10 years than in Scotland or the UK as a whole, but this will lead to only a marginal improvement in economic performance.
 

In health terms, there has been some improvement, especially in relation to mortality from cancer, but the overall mortality rate is still significantly above the national average. Women, older people, the unemployed and residents of East Kilbride have the poorest perceptions of their overall health.
 

On enterprise, since 1994, South Lanarkshire has had generally a higher business birth rate than either Scotland or the UK as a whole. However, its business death rate has also generally been higher than in either of these areas. Clydesdale has the ‘best’ birth rate performance and Rutherglen/Cambuslang the ‘worst’ (only half the overall average). On average, only 54% of South Lanarkshire businesses survive for over 3 years, a below average performance. Again Rutherglen/Cambuslang has the poorest record.
 

Recorded crime rates in 1999 were 97% of their 1995 levels, with an overall fall of 18% in recorded crime since then (over twice the national decline). Clear up rates have also increased significantly and are just below the national average. However, people’s fear of crime has been increasing, especially in Rutherglen/Cambuslang and amongst older people. Amongst the young, fear of crime has, however, fallen.
 

The numbers in work have been rising in South Lanarkshire and the employment rate is above the national average, which suggests that the ‘employability’ of local residents has been rising compared to other areas. In relative terms, however, claimant unemployment is above the national average, with youth unemployment a relatively greater issue and with more people workless than are claiming benefit.
 

In relation to learning, pupil attainment and training for those in work, South Lanarkshire out-performs the national average, and in certain areas, this positive ‘attainment and training gap’ has been increasing. Older people, disadvantaged groups and the self-employed have been shown to be less involved in taking up learning opportunities.