With the exception of the Isle of Wight, the above counties are among the most prosperous in the South East region, with high GDP per capita and low unemployment. According to the New Earnings Survey 2000 average weekly earnings in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex were all above the average of £419.70 for Great Britain at £499, £431.30 and £420 respectively. Earnings in the Isle of Wight, however, were much lower at £366.20. The claimant count rate for March 2002, published by the Office for National Statistics, was 5,500 in Surrey, 5,200 in West Sussex, 8,100 in Hampshire and 2,600 in the Isle of Wight. As a percentage of the population in each area this is approximately 0.51 per cent, 0.64 per cent, 0.68 per cent and 2.04 per cent respectively. The claimant count rate for the UK as a percentage of the population is approximately 1.58 per cent and for the South East it is approximately 0.91 per cent.

Economy:
As is the case throughout the UK, the service sector is by far the most dominant sector of the economy in this part of the South East. However, manufacturing continues to provide large numbers of jobs and agriculture is important in several places. In Hampshire, the finance and business service sector and the engineering sector are two of the highest value-added industries. Other important industries include Aerospace and Marine Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Healthcare, Information Technology and Pharmaceuticals. According to Hampshire County Council, there are more than 600 overseas-owned companies with operational offices in the county. Some of the largest employers in the county include British Aerospace, Ford, GEC Marconi, IBM, Motorola, Sony Broadcast and Communications, Sun Life of Canada and Vosper Thornycroft (UK).
Major employers in the Isle of Wight include British Aerospace Defence Systems and GKN Westland.

According to Surrey County Council some of the most important sectors in Surrey include Advanced engineering, Aviation, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Business services, Electronics, Financial services and ITC. Figures published by the council also state that 25 per cent of all employment in the county is in the information sector, whilst manufacturing, which is dominated by advanced high technology and engineering, accounts for approximately 10 per cent. Large multi-nationals based in the Surrey area include Ericsson, Eli Lilley, Logica, Nokia Telecom, Procter & Gamble, Sun Micro UK and Toshiba UK.

Financial services, information technology and call centres are all important for the West Sussex economy, while tourism is especially significant for the coastal areas. Crawley is one of largest business centres in West Sussex and is home to several major companies including Air 2000 Charter airline, Air UK Ltd Airline, British Airways, DeLoitte and Touche, KPMG , William M Mercer Ltd and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. Thanks to its proximity with Gatwick Aiport the town relies heavily on the aviation industry.

Local Infrastructure:
The are excellent road and rail connections throughout the counties of Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex. Two major motorways pass through Hampshire, linking Bedfordshire to London, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham and Leeds. The M25 London orbital runs through Surrey and the M23 provides a link to Gatwick Airport. Main line rail links connect London to the coastal towns in the area. A journey by train between the capital and Southampton takes little over an hour, while a journey between Portsmouth and London takes approximately an hour and a half.

There are several major ports in this part of the South East, including those at Portsmouth and Southampton. Regular ferry services leave from Portsmouth to France and Spain and in 2001, the port handled in the region of 560,000 tonnes of imports and almost 693,000 tonnes of exports. Southampton is the country's premier vehicle-handling port and is also responsible for nearly half of the UK's container trade with the Far East.

The Isle of Wight is linked to the mainland via six ferry routes that operate out of Lymington, Portsmouth, Southampton and Southsea. The fastest crossing is by hovercraft between Ryde and Southsea, which takes approximately ten minutes. The longest crossing is the car ferry service from Southampton to East Cowes, which takes just under an hour. The island also has two private airports for light aircraft located at Sandown and Bembridge.

The majority of air travel to and from the area is provided for via its two major airports, Gatwick Airport, in West Sussex, and Southampton International Airport, and also by nearby Heathrow Airport. Gatwick Airport has flights to hundreds of destinations all over the world and is the second largest airport in the UK, used by more than 31 million passengers a year. Southampton Airport is a modern regional airport with its own dedicated railway station. It caters for some 800,000 passengers a year on flights to and from more than 20 destinations within Europe including Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Zurich.

Local Workforce:
The workforce is generally skilled and well educated, benefiting from the numerous further education institutes and two major universities in the area. The University of Portsmouth and the University of Southampton offer expertise and business-oriented research facilities in automotive engineering, maritime studies, economic analysis and business management and spin off companies from the universities also provide a range of professional consultancy services such as training, product development and research. The presence of the Royal Navy and the MoD in South Hampshire, has made this area particularly strong in mechanical, electrical, instrument engineering and high technology skills. The number of science and professional occupations relating to defence research, aerospace, marine and motor vehicle industrial sectors are significantly above the UK average.

However, low unemployment levels in the area, while good for overall prosperity, are stifling growth in certain areas. Labour shortages are creating difficulties for businesses that need to recruit key staff and access required skills. According to the Learning and Skills Council for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, some 79 per cent of companies are finding it difficult to recruit adequately skilled staff and, partly because of this, 45 per cent of companies are actively considering moving out of the South East. Surrey Learning and Skills Council has stated that employers are finding it difficult to recruit younger staff in certain sectors such as Engineering and as a result there is a reliance on a skills base of older workers, which may cause problems for these sectors in the future. The high cost of housing in the area, particularly in Surrey, is also causing problems with recruitment for the lower paid/lower skilled jobs. This is especially the case in the care sector and public services.

Standard of Living:
The countryside in this part of the South East is rich and varied making it a pleasant place in which to live and work. More than 70 per cent of the land in Surrey lies within the greenbelt surrounding London and 90 per cent of Hamphire is rural. The area contains everything from lush woodland, open fields and rivers to beautiful coastline and beaches. Unsurprisingly, house prices in the majority of the area are among the highest in the South East and well above the national average. According to the Residential Property Price Report published by the Land Registry, the average price of a house in England and Wales was £146,150 between July and September 2002. In Surrey the price was £269,324, in Hampshire it was £190,898 and in West Sussex it was 184,268. The Isle of Wight has some of the cheapest property in the area with average prices of £135,365.

Business Costs:
Due to the relative economic prosperity throughout much of Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex, central government funding available to help companies in these areas is limited. In fact, only the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth have been given Assisted Area status and/or have been made an Enterprise Grant Zone. In Assisted Areas, grants are available to companies looking at investing in the area for the first time or to companies already based in the area with plans for expansion, modernisation or rationalisation. The amount available is linked to the cost of the project and to the number of jobs that are created or saved in the three years after the investment has been made. In Enterprise Grant Areas, small and medium sized enterprises can be given one off grants to help them invest in a variety of areas such as supply chain improvements, innovation, R&D and environmental sustainability, providing that it can be demonstrated such investment could not take place without the grant.