Why do Employment Rates Differ Across the Regions of Britain?

Both unemployment and non-employment in Great Britain fell steadily after 1993. The ratio of jobs to the working age population — the employment rate — rose. But the increasing regional dispersion of employment rates remains a puzzle. By 2000–01, this dispersion was close to its 1974 and 1985 peak levels, though it has narrowed since 2001. This paper by John Muellbauer & Gavin Cameron ¹ examines this puzzle in the context of different measures of the employment rate and examines what we know and what we do not know about what drives relative employment rates across the British regions. It summarises the findings from an econometric study and examines the outlook for relative employment across the British regions.