- Author, Brandon Williams
- Role, BBC news
- Report from Anglesey
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Conor Fagan is living the dream.
While many of his friends chose to work in the trades, he wanted something different and at the age of 23 he owns his own water sports business on the beach in Anglesey.
If he didn’t choose his own path, how easy would it be for him to find work nearby in the current economic climate?
He believes there are career opportunities in this field, but “obviously there are fewer opportunities for people who want to make more money in this field.”
Conor believes that living on Anglesey means people have to “put themselves out a bit more” to find better paying work, much more so than in bigger towns.
And he added: “I’m very lucky to have my own business here, so I can afford to live here.
“But a lot of my friends and peers, maybe not that many, and they have to move away to find a better career path to sustain a life here.
Edward Altoft, 18, is one of Conor’s part-time water sports instructors at Funsport in Rhosneigr.
But later this year the first-choice will leave the sixth form to study engineering at university in England.
Asked if he would like to return to work on Anglesey, he said: “100% yes. I would like to stay here for the rest of my life if I could. It’s perfect for me, I love it.”
“But if there’s no work here for me – which I don’t think there is for engineering at the moment – then I’ll have to move and come here on holiday.”
He said work for people interested in business and hospitality was good on the island, but with colleges “pushing you into jobs like finance, engineering and things like that”, it was “super hard to find a job here”.
Graduate Nadine Moore, 28, is a Funsport manager and loves her job but has friends from the area who have moved overseas to find work in England.
She said she would also be worried if she was forced to look for work: “I think staying in an area where I could potentially try to take a career path that I really want to do.
“For me, I think I would either look at moving a little more inland and towards the city.
Sixth former Osian Buckland, 18, works part-time at Funsport.
He is about to leave the sixth form to study sports science at university and said people in the field will “struggle to get further” than hospitality or work.
“I’d like to stay here forever, but there aren’t the right jobs. It would be a lot easier for a lot of people to move to the city and get a job there.”
“My goal is definitely to come back here and hopefully I can find something for me.”
Becky Bevan, 27, who owns Cafe Notos in Rhosneigro, just down the road from Funsport, said she would not be looking for work now.
“I think it would be difficult, and I’m saying this from where I’ve been. Right after Covid, I was thinking ‘what am I going to do?’
“I’ve got a degree, I’ve moved here – exactly in the position that a lot of people in their 20s are in….what am I going to do for a job?
Becky believes the desire for well-paid work means “a lot of young people are moving away and I don’t know if a lot of them are necessarily coming back” because of high house prices.
We see a steady trend of net migration from Anglesey for young people aged 15 to 29.
Ynys Mon also has the third lowest proportion of this age group of any Welsh parliamentary constituency.
Young or talented people leaving for better pay – or a brain drain – is not unique to the island – Wales is typified by a net migration of 15 to 29-year-olds leaving for other parts of the UK.
Health and social care is the sector that employs the most people in Wales, followed by retail.
There is a similar picture at a local level on Anglesey, where there are relatively more people than average working in hospitality, construction and agriculture.
However, there are fewer opportunities in manufacturing.
Anglesey has one of the highest employment rates in Wales, recording over 77% employment for the working age population at the end of last year.
Huw Brassington, from Llandwrog, Gwynedd, is a senior mechanical engineer who moved from Wales to Cumbria on his own to find suitable work.
He now works with Tenet Consultants, which provides engineering proposals for large-scale projects including nuclear and renewables.
The company recently opened an office in Anglesey, which he runs, and says the company is focused on providing well-paid jobs and encouraging skilled workers back to Wales.
The former lecturer said: “I understand first-hand the challenges young engineers face in North Wales.
“I witnessed many eager and talented students with limited opportunities. Despite their potential, only a handful secured apprenticeships.
“I have stayed in touch with many of my former students and am now trying to get them.
“Many excel in their careers but often face long commutes or permanent relocation. One of my best former students, for example, commutes from Bala to Bristol every week.”
Stopping the brain drain, he said, “requires a long-term strategy” that “starts cultivating our engineers of the future.”
On the economy and jobs, the Welsh Lib Dems said they would “offer something different from the current status quo, which is a fair deal that delivers a strong economy through investment, fair taxation and responsible public finance management”.
The Welsh Conservatives said a strong economy “delivers strong public services”, but added that “Labour has no plan to grow the Welsh economy, get people into work, raise wages for Welsh workers or support Welsh businesses”.
Labor said: “A Welsh Labor government is focused on protecting Welsh jobs, lifting people out of poverty and tackling the cost of living crisis caused by the Tories,” but said it had been “compromised by the Tory government” at Westminster.
The reform stated that “the lack of economic activity is mainly due to high taxation, which leaves individuals and businesses with little disposable income”.
She said the party aims to solve the problem by “raising the thresholds for personal income tax, corporation tax and VAT, putting more money back into people’s pockets and stimulating the economy”.
Plaid Cymru has been approached for comment.