JOBS in London are booming at six times the rate of the North West, as growth in the region crawls to a five year low.
That's according to new analysis, published today by the TUC, which found that between 2010 and 2014 jobs growth in the North West was the slowest of all regions of the UK.
Conversely, the rate of jobs created in the capital (11.5 percent) was more than twice that of the UK as a whole (5.1 per cent) and six times as fast as the North West (1.8 percent).
The TUC slammed Chancellor George Osbourne saying his extreme cuts to investment in public services and infrastructure in the region were at complete odds with his talk of a Northern Powerhouse.
The North West and other regions won’t become powerhouses of growth and job creation unless they are powered-up by investment in skills
It claims that if job growth here matched UK levels, there would be an additional 105,000 jobs in the region.
The TUC analysis also shows that from 2010 to 2013 London’s economic growth (14.5 per cent) was more than three times as fast as the North West’s (4.5 per cent). Only Wales has experienced lower growth, at 4.4 per cent.
TUC North West Regional Secretary Lynn Collins said: “We need a recovery that works for the whole of the UK, but cuts to infrastructure and services have hit places that are most in need of investment. We now have an unbalanced recovery that is too concentrated in London, too dependent on families getting into debt, and too focused on jobs in low-paid service industries.
“The Chancellor talks of a Northern Powerhouse but the North West and other regions won’t become powerhouses of growth and job creation unless they are powered-up by investment in skills, infrastructure and decent public services – but the Chancellor’s extreme cuts will mean pulling the plug."
In 2013 economic activity in the North West accounted for 9.3 per cent of the value of the entire UK economy, down from 9.7 per cent in 2010 and 9.8 per cent in 1997. It says if economic activity remained at the 2010 share, the region would have generated an extra £5.9 billion.
In 2014 the North West accounted for 10.6 per cent of UK jobs, down from 11 per cent in 2010 and 11.1 per cent in 1997. The difference from 2010 equates to around 120,000 jobs.
