‘Peterborough will struggle to bounce back after COVID’ - report
A new report from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) identifies the places at greatest risk of economic disruption over the next three years – and the areas that will find it hardest to recover.
The think-tank’s analysis shows that the places facing the worst economic shock from the pandemic are mostly in London and the south-east of England, with Peterborough ranked fifth in the list of areas likely to find it hardest to recover. The report says 71 per cent of jobs are in the hardest hit industries.
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Hide AdThe analysis is based on an assessment of which economic sectors face the greatest disruption in the years after the pandemic. Industries such as finance and construction (which together employ more than 7.7 million people) face the most severe impacts. By contrast, the public administration, health and employment sector (which provides 9.5 million jobs) faces only a mild impact.
Taking account of pre-existing unemployment and previous recovery times, the SMF found that the places that face the biggest economic hit and the slowest revival are:
Top 10 severely impacted areas with the highest pre-crisis unemployment (NUTS3)
Kingston upon Hull, City of
Bradford
Walsall
Manchester
Peterborough
Lambeth
Thurrock
Brent
Redbridge and Waltham Forest
Sandwell
“After the financial crisis, London recovered quickly because of a concentration of jobs in banking and insurance. Whilst these jobs will face the biggest initial blow from coronavirus, evidence suggests the capital is more economically resilient and the labour market will recover quicker than the rest of the country”, the report says.
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Hide Ad“As the Government tries to get its economic agenda back on track, it needs to be aware of those areas with multiple moderate or severe impact industries which could equate to a spike in localised job losses. This will be compounded if these areas had high pre-crisis rates of unemployment”.