The West Yorkshire, Leeds City Region and UK job market

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The metropolitan areas that make up West Yorkshire - Calderdale, Kirklees, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield, are also part of the Leeds City Region, an economic area centred on Leeds, which also includes Barnsley, Craven, Harrogate, Selby and York.

The Leeds City Region:

• Over 100,000 businesses are based in the region, offering over 1.25m jobs - 6% of these are in Calderdale and 12% are in Kirklees.
• Agricultural and manufacturing sectors have become less important to the economy and the service sectors more important.
• Business services and financial services accounted for 60% of the region's growth in the 10 years to 2007.
• More of the region's current jobs need lower skills than the UK average.
  

• Main sectors of employment:
  - Business services
  - Health
  - Retail
  - Education
  - Wholesale
  - Construction
  

• Sectors showing the largest percentage growth in employment:
  - Finance-related services
  - Construction
  - Business services
  - Transport equipment
  - Retail
  - Metals
  

• Sectors showing the largest percentage fall in employment:
  - Public administration
  - Textiles and clothing
  - Printing and publishing
  - Food, drink and tobacco
  - Education
  

• Sectors that have the potential for future growth:
  - Finance-related services - particularly important in Calderdale
  - Healthcare and medical technologies
  - Environmental technologies
  - Distribution, hotels and restaurants
  - Retail
  - Digital and creative industries and Advanced manufacturing - important in Calderdale and Kirklees
  - Low carbon industries - including accountancy (carbon counting) and management consultancy, for example advice on legislation
  

Reproduced with kind permission of the Leeds City Region Employment and Skills Board from the presentation made at the Leeds City Region Skills Event, April 2011

West Yorkshire has many businesses and jobs in:

• Chemicals
• Food and drink
• Textiles and clothing
• Printing and packaging
• Engineering
• Distribution including transport
• Retailing

• Finance
• Legal and business services
• Electronics
• Call centres
• Hotels and catering
• Care including childcare, health and social care

Percentage of people employed by industry in West Yorkshire compared with Yorkshire and the Humber, and England

UK industry employment change between 2007 and 2017
Listed in order of largest increase/decrease in the number of people employed

Expected to increase:

Expected to decrease:

• Computing & related services
• Other business services
• Miscellaneous services
• Hotels & catering
• Health & social work
• Retailing distribution nes (not elsewhere specified)
• Construction
• Banking & insurance
• Transport & storage
• Manufacturing nes & recycling
• Education; Wholesale distribution nes
• Distribution relating to motors; Professional services
• Public administration & defence

• Textiles & clothing
• Engineering
• Agriculture
• Transport equipment
• Mining, quarrying & utilities
• Chemicals & non-metal minerals
• Metals & metal goods
• Food, drink & tobacco
• Wood, paper and publishing
• Post & telecommunications