Movement within the UK

  • about 10% of people in the UK move per year
    • some locally, while others move from one region to another
    • one region’s net gain is another’s net loss → this regional movement of people is unrestricted + often linked to the changing labour markets

Reasons for internal migration

  • Since the 1980s, deindustrialisation in N. Britain (e.g., steel) has driven many workers south in search of employment. The growth of footloose industries in the S.E. (e.g., electrical engineering + IT) has encouraged this, as has the growth of LDN’s knowledge economy (e.g., financial services).
  • The regeneration of large cities has led to the in-migration of younger people for work, as well as the attraction to the urban lifestyle. By contrast, many older adults with families move from cities into rural areas, often for a slower lifestyle.

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The North-South divide

  • UK’s North-South population drift accelerated during the 1980s

  • <<In 2015, for every 12 jobs created since 2004 in southern cities, only 1 was created in cities elsewhere<<

  • London’s global hub status means that the UK’s core-periphery and imbalance is likely to persist

    core-periphery model

    the polarisation of the core and the periphery

the Norththe South
economic activityheavily dependent on the public sectorprivate sector dominant
incomeslower incomes, e.g. in 2011 average household gross disposable income was £13,560 in the North Easthigher incomes, e.g., in 2011 average household gross disposable income was £20,509 in London
unemploymenthigher unemploymentlower unemployment
house priceslower, average in North East: £154,000higher, average in South East: £305,000
educationless likely to achieve straight A grades at A-Level and less likely to study at Oxbridgepupils are 40% more likely to achieve top GCSE grades
life expectancylower, in Manchester 2013: 71.8 male, 77.8 femalehigher, male in East Dorset 2013: 83.1, female in Kensington + Chelsea 2013: 84.7

Reasons for these differences:

  • The south-east:

- has good communication links to Europe + the rest of the UK

- has a large pool of skilled and educated workers → people migrate to the area from other parts of the UK/world as it provides better job opportunities

- is less affected by deindustrialisation because there were fewer heavy industries

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