Workforce

The characteristics of the Leeds labour market are particularly well suited to the needs of modern businesses. Strong local traditions in shift work and part time working, a willingness to travel, a high proportion of working women and a large student population, have enabled operations requiring a flexible and dedicated workforce to flourish in Leeds.

The diversity of the the Leeds economy has ensured that the workforce has skills and expertise across a broad range of sectors, including financial and profesional services, in particular banking, insurance and legal services.

Leeds remains one of the UK's largest centres for manufacturing, with key strengths in engineering, print and publishing, food and drink manufacture, electronics and medical device manufacture. Employers will also find core skills in healthcare, ICT, digital and media, construction, logitsics and retail.

Cushman and Wakefield's European Cities Monitor 2009 named Leeds as the UK's best ranked city for cost of staff. The average gross weekly wage in Leeds is £549 for men and £326 for women, compared to UK averages of £589 and £370, and inner London averages of £814 and £578.

The Leeds city region has a population of 3 million and a workforce of around 1.5. Over 2 million people live within 30 minutes drive of Leeds city centre. The workforce of the Leeds city region is highly self-contained: 93% of people who live in the city region also work here and 93% of people who work here also live in the city region.

The city of Leeds has a population of 790,000 and a working age population of 523,000, which includes a resident labour force of 420,000 and and estiamted 37,800 self-employed. Over the next decade the Leeds resident labour force is expected to grow by 9%.. 

According to the Centre for Cities, private sector employment in Leeds grew by 8.1% between 1998 and 2008, compared to 6.1% in Liverpool, 4.8% in Manchester, and a decline of 8.3% in Birmingham.

Cushman and Wakefield's UK Cities Monitor 2008 placed Leeds in the top three cities in the UK in terms of ease of recruiting qualified staff.

According to the Annual Population Survey 2008, 27.6% of Leeds' working age population is qualified to NVQ4 level or above, compared to 22.1% in Birmingham, 20.3% in Liverpool and 26.9% in Manchester.

The City Region Employer Coalition is the specialist employment and skills division of the Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. It has a network of over 200 employers who meet regularly to discuss recruitment and retention issues within specific sectors or with cross-cutting themes. The Coalition works with the public sector to ensure that employment and skills programmes meet the needs of employers in the city region.

Graduates Yorkshire is the leading graduate recruitment service in the region. It works with the region's ten university careers services to provide all the information and support that graduates and employers need to find each other.

[Last update 13/7/10]