Inner London is only area of UK to have returned to pre-recession levels of job creation
23 Jun 2014 12:42 PM
Inner London is the only
area of the country to have a higher rate of job starts than before the
recession, while job creation in some parts of the country is down 31 per cent
on pre-recession levels, according to a new TUC report published today
(Monday).
The TUC Touchstone pamphlet
Equitable Full Employment: A Jobs Recovery For All shows that the recent rise
in employment is being driven by fewer people leaving their jobs, rather than
more people finding new work.
Job starts – the number of
people starting a new job within a three month period – are currently
around 20 per cent below pre-recession levels across the UK, and are still
falling in parts of the country. The fact that fewer people are leaving their
jobs helps to explain why the employment rate for older workers is increasing
so much faster than for young people, says the TUC.
The report, written for the TUC
by Tony Wilson and Paul Bivand of the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion
(Inclusion), compares job start rates before the recession, at the height of
the crash and during the recent recovery. It finds that metropolitan areas such
as London, Birmingham and Tyne and Wear are recovering faster than their
neighbouring rural areas.
Inner London is the only area of
the country where jobs are being created at a faster rate than before the
crash. Outer London, the South East and Eastern England have recovered since
the crash but job starts are still 11 per cent, 16 per cent and 21 per cent
below pre-recession levels.
Job creation across the rest of
the country is more mixed, says the TUC. Job creation in Tyne and Wear is
recovering (though still 11 per cent below pre-recession levels) but getting
worse across the rest of the North East.
Job creation in the West
Midlands metropolitan area is recovering but the rest of the region continues
to decline (down 31 per cent), while South and West Yorkshire are both
performing far better than the rest of Yorkshire and Humberside. Job starts in
Greater Manchester have fallen slightly since the height of the crash but the
city is still doing far better than Merseyside and the rest of the North West,
where job starts are 30 per cent down on pre-recession levels.
Strathclyde is the only major
metropolitan area that is performing worse than its neighbouring area, with job
creation across the rest of Scotland recovering faster.
The report shows while the
UK’s employment rate is rising, there are huge swathes of the country
– particularly rural areas – where job creation remains depressed
and is getting worse, say the TUC.
The report also looks at job
starts across different age groups, qualification levels and types of work. It
finds that while job creation rates for graduates are back above pre-recession
levels, the number of people with lower-level qualifications starting new jobs
declined during the boom and has continued to deteriorate since the
crash.
The proportion of jobs starts to
non-permanent work is now higher than it was before the crash, with three in
ten job starts in temporary work. Fixed-term contacts are the most popular form
of temporary work.
The continuing shift from
permanent employee jobs to self-employment and temporary work, such as
fixed-term contacts and agency work, suggests the nature of the UK jobs market
is changing permanently, rather than being a short-term response to the
recession, says the TUC.
The rate of people moving from
unemployment to work is still lower than pre-recession levels across all age
groups, say the report. ‘Hiring rates’ have recovered fastest for
older workers, but they remain far less likely to move from unemployment to
work than any other age group.
Hiring rates for 16-24 year
olds, who traditionally have moved from unemployment into work at a far quicker
rate than all other age groups, have declined considerably over the last 17
years. People in their late 20s and early 30s are now finding work as quickly
as younger people, says the report.
The report makes a number of
recommendations to boost job creation and raise employment levels further,
including:
• Offering targeted
employment support programmes, such as a job guarantee for any young person out
of work for at least six months.
• Identifying low skills as a reason to provide more intensive
employment support.
• Establishing bodies in each industrial sector so that government,
unions and employers can work together to identify skills gaps, promote decent
workplace standards and fair pay.
TUC General Secretary Frances
O’Grady said: “Many people assume that rising employment levels are
simply down to more people getting new work. In fact, the recent recovery in
our jobs market is mainly due to people holding onto their jobs, rather than
finding new ones. This is great news if you want to keep earning as you
approach retirement, but less positive if you’re trying to take your
first step on the career ladder.
“Job creation is as
important for people looking for work as it is for those already in work and
looking to boost their incomes. It’s worrying that across huge swathes of
the country – and particularly in rural areas – job creation levels
remain depressed and that where jobs are being created far more are temporary
positions than before the crash.
“We need to see far more
high-quality jobs being created, not just in our cities but across the UK, if
we’re going to achieve full employment and a return to healthy pay
rises.”
CESI Associate Director Paul
Bivand said: “What we are concerned about is inclusion, which isn’t
just our name. Growth in employment should help to close gaps in our society.
We don’t want a rising tide to lift just the most buoyant, while leaving
others behind. We want all areas and groups to benefit and we need to close
gaps.
“We are already hearing
that there is a risk of the Bank taking action because of overheating high-end
London house prices. For the economy to benefit all, then rises in jobs have to
occur in the rural areas as well as the cities, and Glasgow and Merseyside as
well as the South East.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Job starts as a proportion of all jobs, compared to pre-recession levels
(2006-07)
Area 2009-10 2012-13
Eastern England -22 per cent -20 per cent
Inner London -14 per cent +3 per cent
Outer London -16 per cent -11 per cent
South East -27 per cent -16 per cent
Eastern England -27 per cent -21 per cent
West Midlands Metropolitan area -33 per cent -22 per cent
Rest of West Midlands -24 per cent -31 per cent
Tyne and Wear -27 per cent -11 per cent
Rest of North East -22 per cent -31 per cent
South Yorkshire -28 per cent -9 per cent
West Yorkshire -19 per cent -18 per cent
Rest of Yorkshire and Humberside -4 per cent -16 per cent
Greater Manchester -19 per cent -22 per cent
Merseyside -17 per cent -28 per cent
Rest of North West -21 per cent -30 per cent
Strathclyde -34 per cent -33 per cent
Rest of Scotland -22 per cent -18 per cent
UK -23 per cent -20 per cent
- Equitable Full Employment: A
Fair Recovery For All is available atwww.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Equitable_Full_Employment.pdf
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