How is the Milton Keynes economy performing, and what are the key policy issues facing the city?
This factsheet compares Milton Keynes with the five most similar European cities by size and industrial structure. These are: A Coruña (Spain) Almere (Netherlands), Amersfoort (Netherlands), Europ’ Essonne (Massy) (France), Oldenburg (Germany)
Comparing cities in this way helps us to understand more about how well UK cities are competing on an international scale because it groups cities with similar industrial structures, rather than on their resulting economic performance. The factsheet also compares the relative strengths and weaknesses of Milton Keynes to its European counterparts on variables such as skills, employment and productivity.
Milton Keynes is a small city with a relatively small public sector but large private services and business services sector.
Milton Keynes performs well in its group, ranking highly on GVA, GVA per worker, jobs and employment, although compared to the group its population is relatively less highly skilled.