IN A question to the Welsh Economy Minister this week, I asked what he thought were the reasons for being optimistic about the Welsh economy: what awaits the young people here other than staggering rent hikes, stagnant wages and dearth of opportunity? 

I did so following yet another publication from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) — one in a series of publications in recent months — in which the glaring weaknesses within the Welsh economy were thrown into very sharp relief.

The figures showed that rates of unemployment in Wales were 4.6 per cent — this is 1.6 points up on last year and compares to a UK-wide rate of 3.9 per cent. 

Wales is currently ranked 12th of 12 UK nations and regions for employment rates, and with the exception of one month at the end of 2018, Welsh employment rates have consistently remained below the UK average throughout the devolution period, often by wide margins. Wales ranks the lowest for gross value added per head out of all constituent UK nations. 

On practically every metric for employment and economic performance, the picture in Wales is one of stagnation and managed decline.

At its core, this is a problem that stems from Wales’s struggle with stubbornly high rates of economic inactivity. 

The ONS recently revealed that this stood at 24.9 per cent, compared to a UK average of 21 per cent. Of particular concern in this respect is the number of people on long-term sickness in Wales — 159,000 at present, the highest figure in over 15 years. 

Furthermore, the Welsh government’s 2018 Employability Plan contained a pledge to eliminate the gap in unemployment and economic inactivity rates between Wales and the UK average within 10 years, but now halfway through this plan we see that they are a long way from realising this ambition.

I believe the minister’s response to my question was symptomatic of Welsh government’s thinking on economic matters throughout the devolution period. 

And I quote: “There are reasons to be optimistic about the future of Wales, if we have the right investment, if we have partners to enable us to make that investment in an environment that is stable.” If doesn’t quite cut it.

To some extent, we can see why that word punctuated the minister’s response: Wales is in an unenviable position with regards to macroeconomic policy. 

It simultaneously has the responsibility of developing the Welsh economy while important monetary and economic levers remain reserved to the Westminster government. 

Wales’s current economic underperformance is the result, however, of long-term, systemic trends indicative of the policy choices of both Conservative and Labour governments. 

The politics of austerity has characterised the approach of UK governments since 2008 — and indelibly marked life in Wales as a result — while Welsh Labour-run governments have failed to deliver sustained economic development and fight for the full array of levers needed to adopt blanket changes to economic policy. 

Acquiring new powers for Wales isn’t a constitutional indulgence: it’s a way of ensuring that we in Wales have the tools necessary to make the lives of people here better.

Welsh government policy has historically betrayed an over-reliance on foreign direct investment (FDI). Significant chunks of employment in manufacturing, for example, are dependent on foreign firms, while the prominence of foreign firms in the tourism, retail and service sectors of the economy has increased sharply through the devolution period. 

Some investment has brought significant benefit to Wales, but piling vast resource into FDI (and not the value-adding research and development kind) has come at the expense of wages and creating our own innovative economic ecosystems. 

Ultimately, it has nurtured an economic structure that is deeply dependent, where the links between business and community are severed. 

Kicking these problems into the long grass should no longer be tolerated. Rather than be fobbed off by vague proposals, endless consultations and hollow promises, it’s high time that Wales’s communities were given something different.

Part of this is perhaps reconciling ourselves to the fact that Wales may never be the economic powerhouse that some may wish it to be. 

What Wales can be is a country that strives to reward public good, and doesn’t put the maximisation of shareholder profit above the wellbeing of people. 

Making this a reality will mean addressing shortcomings within the existing devolution settlement (inadequate borrowing and tax-raising powers, lack of full control over natural resources and other key assets), but also articulating a vision that is radical, ecologically aware, socially just, protects and expands public services, and invests in the one thing that no economy can function without: people.

Increasing Wales’s productivity towards these ends is the challenge we face, and a challenge that Plaid Cymru is ready to step up and meet. 

Investment in the skills, education and training for green economic development, alongside the development of digital connectivity and infrastructure, are absolutely fundamental to any course of action.

None of our ambitions for Wales can be fulfilled without breaking the pattern of economic dependence that has characterised the Welsh economy for so long.