Almost half of England’s increase in jobs over the past decade has been in London and the south-east, according to a new report, underlining the scale of the task Boris Johnson faces in tackling inequality across the UK.
The study by IPPR North, published on Friday, found that London benefited from a net increase of more than 1.2m jobs between 2009 and 2019 — 32 per cent of England’s total net increase of 3,850,822, even though it has 16 per cent of England’s population.
North-eastern England, in contrast, netted 1 per cent of the rise in net jobs — 38,727 — despite having 5 per cent of England’s population.
Mr Johnson, prime minister, has prioritised reducing regional divisions by investing in so-called left-behind areas of the North and Midlands which voted Conservative in the December election.
The left-leaning think-tank’s analysis, which is based on official government data, is the latest report to outline the scale of the challenge facing the government in its aim of “levelling-up” economic performance in the UK.
Another report by IPPR North in November said regional inequality in the UK had become the worst of any comparable developed country and was growing.
And official data published this week showed that while England’s average unemployment rate is currently 3.9 per cent, the highest regional figure, covering north-east England, is 6.1 per cent.
To address the problem, IPPR North said the government should devolve more powers to the regions to address the centralisation of power it claimed is a factor in the growing inequality.
The report said the devolution enacted in England since 2014 had been “chaotic and incoherent”, consisting mainly of delegation rather than transfer of real power. Outside devolution policy, the years since 2010 have been marked, it added, by significant centralisation as local government has borne the brunt of austerity and public sector job cuts.
“Our politics is more centralised than in any comparable nation, and economic power is concentrated within central government — in the Treasury,” the report said.
The report proposed a four-year programme to put power and resources into towns, cities and regions across England.
But, while London and the south-east have taken the largest share of new jobs since 2009, the benefit to the capital’s population is far from equally spread.
Almost two-thirds of the net increase in jobs since 2010 has been taken by managers, directors, senior officials or professionals. However, many of the other jobs are insecure and low-paid, the report said.
London, it found, has the England’s highest rates of income inequality and highest rate of poverty, with 28 per cent of people in the capital trapped in relative poverty, after housing costs.
“The Treasury sees London and the south-east as a cash cow, getting the most benefit out of the area but not necessarily benefiting people in it,” said report author Luke Raikes.
