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Yesterday’s Spending Review gave a greater steer on where the Office for Budgetary Responsibility’s forecast of 490,000 public sector job losses will be felt. Some government departments were hit harder than others. And the cuts will not have an even impact across cities either. We showed last year that some cities, such as Newcastle and Swansea, are more vulnerable to public sector job losses than others. Private sector suppliers and contractors are likely to feel the pain too.
One of the government’s main solutions to the problem of public sector job cuts across England’s city economies is the Regional Growth Fund, which was extended by one year in the Spending Review. Nick Clegg has been a big supporter of the Fund, saying that it ‘will create the conditions for growth and enterprise in the regions by stimulating investment and create sustainable private sector jobs.’ And when I asked Chris Grayling, Minister of State for Work and Pensions recently what will happen to people who are ‘work ready’ in cities where there is no work available, his magic bullet was the Regional Growth Fund.
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