local economies

The cost of barriers to paid work for women

Read Women’s Work

New analysis by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and The Women’s Budget Group (WBG) has found that the cost of the barriers to paid work encountered by women – such as caregiving responsibilities, gender bias in recruitment and attitudes towards aging – has risen by 7% in the last year, meaning that nearly £100bn GVA is lost to the economy in England, Scotland and Wales annually – more than the contribution of the entire financial services sector in the UK.

The analysis was released to coincide with the publication of findings from a joint research project from the two organisations, which was launched today at an event in Leeds. At the event, West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, shared her thoughts on the report, Women’s Work.

  • RESEARCH

    Women's Work

    22nd March 2024
    ...
  • Right place and time for change

    This article originally appeared in the Municipal Journal.

    This week all eyes will be on the Autumn Statement. While the headlines will likely focus on questions of tax and public funding on the national level, the question of whether local government will receive any relief from more than 13 years of austerity will probably not make the cut.

    Yet the systematic defunding and devaluing of local government is – I would argue – one of the reasons why there are growing levels of poverty, hardship and destitution, creating huge vulnerability in places across the UK, generating significant pressure in the NHS and in social care and undermining the potential of local economies. For decades, every chancellor has stood at the dispatch box and argued their plan is the one that will set this country on the path to prosperity for all. That they will deregulate, bulldoze, cut through regulation, look under stones in the pursuit of growth. Few are bothered about the quality of the economy they are nurturing, merely the upward trajectory. Often the most important question is missed: who benefits?
    “The gap between those who have least and most is growing”
    Take Greater Manchester, for example, where recent CLES research shows the city region’s economy has more than doubled since 1998. Yet a third of children live in poverty, there are 16,000 live applications for social housing and 390 neighbourhoods are among the most deprived in the UK. The wealth of the average Greater Manchester resident, including property and other assets, is around £84,400 while the 11 richest individuals in the city region have a combined wealth of more than £9.3bn. The gap between those who have least and most is growing year-on-year.

  • RESEARCH

    This must be the place

    23rd November 2023
    ...
  • Getting healthier and wealthier

    This article originally appeared in the Municipal Journal, where our Chief Executive, Sarah Longlands, writes a regular viewpoint column.

    I had the opportunity to spend time in Birmingham recently as part of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies’ (CLES) work with the Birmingham Anchor Network. Post-pandemic, the Integrated Care System (ICS) in the city has completely revitalised its recruitment approach – tearing up its 17-page application form in the process.

    This new approach to recruitment puts the onus on the organisation rather than individuals, and has enabled people – particularly those with transferable skills but a lack of opportunities in the beleaguered hospitality industry – to come and work in health and social care.

  • RESEARCH

    A light in the dark

    18th November 2022
    ...
  • Paint your town a rainbow

    This article originally appeared in the MJ

    Community wealth building is on the rise. As an intentional reorganisation of the local economy, to tackle inequality and disadvantage, it is needed now more than ever to address the significant challenges that are being felt so acutely in our homes and communities.

    Dating back to the mid noughties, CLES’s work on aspects of community wealth building have developed into a powerful corrective to an economic model that has left too many people worse off, enriched the already wealthy few and propelled us further down the road to ecological disaster.

  • POLICY PROVOCATION

    Devolve, redirect, democratise

    25th May 2021
    ...
  • Podcast: J. Phillip Thompson

    In this special episode, we are sharing J. Phillip Thompson’s keynote address from our Community Wealth Building Summit in November 2020.

    Phillip is the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives in New York City and the author of Double Trouble: Black Mayors, Black Communities, and the Call for a Deep Democracy. In the podcast he explains his thoughts on the US election, the huge racial divides that are running rampant in the country, his plans for New York City and campaigns for community wealth building, rebuilding the post-COVID economy in a more equitable fashion, the problems in the current economic system in NYC, building an economy that suits the workers and communities across the US, and more.

    An end to austerity? Not for local government.

    This article originally appeared in the Local Government Chronicle

    The budget has found the money tree, but not for local economies, local public services or the climate.

    We need to look at where the money goes and who has power over it. Big finance, large infrastructure companies and the existing wealth winners all win again. Just and green local economies for all remain as distant as ever.

    Wider economic austerity has been abandoned – but let’s be clear, local government public service austerity remains, and so do the systemic economic issues bedevilling great swathes of this land.