Project Director: Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill
Project Duration: 2016-2017

There is renewed political, policy and media concern about the ‘places left behind’. This has been prompted by the EU referendum in particular – less prosperous areas in England and Wales voted heavily for Brexit – but it also has deeper roots in the widespread perception that present-day prosperity is by-passing many places and communities.

There is a pressing need for a better understanding of the contemporary labour market in older industrial Britain, not least to inform policy responses to those excluded from the benefits of economic growth.

This project will seek to assess the dynamics of labour market processes in these areas since 2010 and engage with a range of policy makers and institutions in these areas in order to gain a better understanding of the processes at play. The project will combine both quantitative and qualitative data providing a rounded picture of the trajectory of labour markets in older industrial Britain in recent times to help inform policy development of local and national stakeholders and decision makers.