'Pandemic has wiped out ten years’ economic progress in older industrial Britain'

The report commissioned by the Industrial Communities Alliance (ICA) and Coalfields Regeneration Trust, has been compiled by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research.

It looked at the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy, labour market and public health of older industrial towns, the former coalfields and the main regional cities of the Midlands, North, Scotland and Wales.

Between February and November 2020, unemployment rose by 310,000 in older industrial towns, 100,000 in the former coalfields and 140,000 in the main regional cities, the report found.

It also dicovered that over the year to November, claimant unemployment among 16-24 year olds in older industrial Britain roughly doubled.

Professor Steve Fothergill, co-author of the report, said: “As the economy recovered from the financial crisis there was real progress in bringing down unemployment in older industrial Britain even though the problem had by no means been solved, but in less than a year since the onset of the pandemic the increase in unemployment across older industrial Britain has more than offset these gains.

“In effect, the pandemic has wiped out ten years’ economic progress in older industrial Britain.”

The report also found that over the whole pandemic up to the start of 2021, the rate of confirmed infections in older industrial Britain was on average 10-20 per cent above the UK average - a reflection of a potentially lower share of the workforce being able to work from home.

Peter McNestry, chairman of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, said: “After the major losses of industry throughout the coalfields, then the government’s measures of 10 years of austerity, the effect of the pandemic cannot be ignored.

“This report provides the evidence in black and white that more needs to be done if our residents are ever to have a chance of moving forward.

“The government needs to keep levelling up firmly on the agenda and rather than talk about change, make it happen.”

---

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.

Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers.

So, please - if you can - pay for our work. Just £5 per month is the starting point. If you think that which we are trying to achieve is worth more, you can pay us what you think we are worth. By doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly rare. Independent journalism that cares less about right and left and more about right and wrong. Journalism you can trust.

Thank you

James Mitchinson