Where are the jobs?

New employment data released today gives us the latest picture on where jobs are located across the country. 

It shows that, if you draw a line horizontally across the country from London to Bristol, these cities and those to the south accounted for a staggering 42 percent of total city employment in 2011. London was the main contributor providing almost three quarters (or 5.0 million) of the 6.8 million employment positions housed in these 13 cities.

Unlike in the South and Midlands, there are more mid to large urban areas in the North, measured in employment terms. Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield together accounted for half of employment in cities north of Mansfield. That said, there were some smaller cities too. Blackburn, for example, had 15 times fewer employees than Manchester. 

Figure 1: Total employment, 2011 data

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2012. Business Register and Employment Survey.

In sum, the data provided by the Business Register and Employment Survey shows that cities in the South dominate in employment terms. Yet these jobs are housed primarily in London. In contrast, employment opportunities in the North are more evenly spread across its cities. 

Comments

[John Charlesworth]

For all the huffing and puffing of politicians over the years the balance of jobs, between North and South has hardly changed. I lived in Bracknell for many years and jobs were plentiful: many did 2 or 3 part-time jobs if that was the lifestyle they wanted.

The North has been suported by Public Sector jobs but a new radical approach is required to get investment in enterprise work.