Population and Housing.
Six thousand parishioners are housed in approximately 2,500 homes
which are predominantly of terrace type construction. The vast majority
of homes in the parish are 80-120 years old, one newer housing estate
having been built on a disused coal handling / train engine yard
in the 1970s and another presently being built backing onto the
railway line.
Education.
Four small schools lie within the parish: Central Infants, Central
Junior, Eastern Infant & Junior and Duffryn Lower Comprehensive.
Good relations exist with all four schools which visit St. Theodore's
for curriculum purposes as well as utilising it as a venue for concerts
and Christmas services.
Unemployment.
The parish has been in the heart of industrial south Wales with
coal, tin, iron and steel forming the main source of employment.
However, unemployment remains a feature for many in the parish.
According to the, Annual Local Area Employment Force
Survey 2000 Data – Activity Rates
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council has one of the lowest employment
rates in Wales with only 62.4% of those of working age being economically
active. Only Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent had a lower rate at
58.8% and 60.3% respectively, with the Wales average being 74.4%.
While according to the March 2002 Nomis unemployment rates in Neath
Port Talbot were 8.7% compared to the overall figure for Wales of
5.3 % and overall figure for great Britain of 5.2%.
