Official figures have been released this week which show the top ten cities that have suffered the most job losses during the recession within the past year. The statistics show that cities outside of London in the North, West Midlands and Scotland have been worst affected by the economic downturn.
The figures, compiled by the Work Foundation, were based on those cities with the highest increases in total numbers of those claiming job seeker’s allowance, from February 08-09.
The top five cities that have seen the highest increase in jobseekers claiming these benefits, (From Feb 08- Feb 09) are:
1. Birmingham (5.3%- 7.3%)
2. Leeds (2.5%- 4.3%)
3. Glasgow (3.7%- 5.2%)
4. Sheffield (2.5%- 4.1%)
5. Hull (4.8%- 8%)
Manchester, Bradford, Kirklees, Liverpool and Bristol make up the rest of the top 10 cities.
The study has emphasised that the worst affected areas are those cities which have not previously achieved a high level of economic prosperity.
In spite of Hull’s recent surge of regeneration projects to shake off its former crown of ‘worst place to live in Britain’ in a 2005 survey; this has proved insufficient to stop the city from suffering a large number of job losses, and those claiming job seeker’s allowance has almost doubled within the last year.
Naomi Clayton, a senior researcher for the Work Foundation suggested that the places worst hit, may have been those “yet to fully recover from previous economic downturns”. Clayton has spoken of the need for the forthcoming budget to focus on these cities to assist in the recovery process.
For more information on redundancy and job seeking, check out the links at the top of my blog.
To read the full article from the BBC on this topic, Click Here
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