Leeds city region

Located at the geographical centre of the UK, the Leeds city region represents a naturally functioning economy encompassing the cities, towns and districts of Leeds, Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Selby, Wakefield and York.

Leeds city region has been named as one of two pilot city regions within the UK, allowing new freedoms and flexibilities in areas such as housing, regeneration, transport, innovation and higher level skills. The aim is to create the conditions for a better business environment in which enterprise can flourish and the economy can grow, through innovation-led activity.

The Leeds city region has a population of almost 3 million, a workforce of 1.5 million and a highly diverse economy worth over £48 billion per annum, giving it the critical mass to compete on an international stage with other major European business centres.

Key assets of the Leeds city region include economic diversity, the knowledge economy and connectivity. It lies at the crossroads of the UK transportation network, and is the home of over 100,000 businesses.

The Leeds city region has six universities: Leeds, Leeds Met, Bradford, Huddersfield, York and York St John, which produce mornearly 35,000 graduates every year and facilitate cutting-edge research, 36% of which is world class and 10% of which is world leading.

The University of Leeds, along with Sheffield and York, is a member of the White Rose University Consortium. The combined research power of the three universities ranks alongside Oxford and Cambridge and accounts for 86% of the region’s higher education research spend.

The Leeds city region has a highly self contained workforce - 93% of people who live in the city region also work there, and 93% of people who work in the city region also live there. Every day over 100,000 people from the surrounding city region commute to work in Leeds.

Communications, banking, insurance, other financial services and health will feature as key areas of employment growth. Digital and creative industries, bioscience, distribution and logistics also represent opportunities for growth.

In the next decade, the Leeds and Bradford economies are forecast to exceed growth rates for the UK as a whole.

The Leeds city region is one of the largest centres for financial and business services in the UK, employing around 272,000 people in that sector.

Manufacturing continues to thrive in the face of fierce global competition, accounting for almost 162,000 jobs in advanced engineering, bioscience and medical technology, food and drink, chemicals and printing.

The public sector is a major employer, with over 349,000 people working in public administration, education and healthcare across the city region.

The tourism industry makes an important contribution to the economy of the city region, with 80,000 people employed in hotels and restaurants alone. 

The digital and creative sector employs 31,500 people.

[Last update 5/7/10]