Ex-industrial areas facing double jobs blow
Coastal and industrial legacy areas are experiencing higher unemployment and lower vacancies during the coronavirus crisis, according to analysis by the Institute of Economic Studies (IES) of Office for National Statistics data.
It found that the highest ratios of unemployed people to vacancies were in northern England, the south of Scotland, Northern Ireland, parts of Wales, and coastal towns. The worst affected areas, in terms of typologies, were those with a significant industrial legacy, covering the central belt of Scotland, parts of Wales and the North of England, and ethnically diverse metropolitan areas such as outer London boroughs and districts including Birmingham, Leicester, Luton, and Slough.
According to the IES, the overall level of vacancies at 24 May was 331,000, almost half a million vacancies below the level just before the crisis, when there were 820,000 jobs on offer. Hospitality/catering, administration, consultancy, and HR/recruitment were the occupational categories with the largest percentage drop in vacancies.