Almost half of all new jobs in England are in south-east – report

Almost half of new jobs in England in the last decade were in London and the south-east, despite only a third of the population living in that region, according to a new report.

Research by the thinktank IPPR North shows that 47% of new jobs between September 2009 and September 2019 went to the southern regions.

Across England, which is home to 56 million people, the number of jobs increased by 3.8m over the last decade, from 26.7m to 30.5m.

In London and the south-east, the number of jobs rose by 1.8m, from 9.2m to nearly 11m. Office-based professional and administrative roles, as well as those in accommodation and food service, were among the kinds of jobs that increased.

In comparison, the north-east and north-west of England, and Yorkshire and the Humber had 17% of the country’s new jobs. In those regions, which contain 28% of the population, the number rose from 7.2m in 2009 to 7.8m in 2019.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, analysed by IPPR, also showed differences between northern regions in the kind of jobs available.

Related: UK inequality 'among worst of developed countries'

In the north-west, the highest number of new jobs were “professional, scientific and technical”, while in the north-east, as these types of jobs fell over the last decade, the highest increase was in administrative and support service roles.

As a whole, the north-east, which also has the lowest average disposable income of all English regions, saw only 1% of the country’s total job increases.

Londoners were found not to be benefiting from regional economic divides, however, with those living in the capital facing some of least affordable housing in the country, and among the highest rates of income inequality.

A recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found the city had the highest rate of poverty, with 28% of people trapped in relative poverty after housing costs.

Following his landslide victory in last year’s general election, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, set “levelling up” regional divides at the top of his government’s agenda.

However, Luke Raikes, a senior research fellow at the thinktank, said the findings showed that the centralisation of power in Westminster had held all of England back.

“Levelling up should mean opening the door for all of England to benefit from devolution, while also letting areas that have devolution take on more,” said Raikes.

“This parliament must be the devolution parliament. It is time to overturn the centralisation that’s let towns, cities and regions fall into decline. The government must give places the power and resources they need, to adapt to the decades of change that lie ahead.”

The metro mayor of North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll, said: “IPPR’s new report underlines the failure of the pre-devolution economic model. In the last 10 years the north-east has accounted for only 1% of the UK’s new jobs, despite being 5% of the population.”

Despite growth in jobs in recent years, workers have experienced a squeeze in living standards and an increase in precarious working conditions.

Earlier this month, ONS data showed that average real wages – which take account of inflation – had risen above their pre-financial crisis level for the first time.

Weekly pay excluding bonuses was at £474 in the year to December, moving just £1 above the peak of £473 recorded in March 2008.

Meanwhile the number of people on zero-hours contracts reached a high of 974,000 last year.