Looking at flows of people from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester
In Cities Outlook we analysed the migration of people to and from London. During the research we also did analysis for other cities too. This blog looks at migration patterns for Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
In general the three cities gain population from other northern cities, but lose people to the south, most prominently London. Manchester sees a net outflow of people to just 8 of the 32 cities in the North and Midlands. In Leeds it’s just three.
Map 1: Migration to and from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester
Splitting this out by age group shows some very interesting patterns. Firstly, as we showed in Cities Outlook 2014, these cities are huge attractors of 18 to 21 year olds. As the maps show, Manchester loses people in this age group to just 13 cities out of 58 in England and Wales. In Leeds it’s five. And in Liverpool it’s just four.
Map 2: Migration of 18 to 21 year olds to and from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester
But the opposite patterns are seen when looking at 22 to 30 year olds. Manchester is the most successful of the three, seeing an inflow of people in this age group from 30 cities. It’s much smaller for Leeds: it gains people from just 12 cities (5 of which are in Yorkshire and Humberside). And Liverpool sees a complete reversal: whereas it lost 18 to 21 year olds to just four cities, it gains 22 to 30 year olds from just four cities.
Map 3: Migration of 22 to 30 year olds to and from Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester
As noted in Outlook, universities are a big factor in determining these patterns. The problem these cities face is that they are unable to offer sufficient economic opportunity for graduates to stay once they finish their courses.
The challenge for them is to increase the number and range of jobs available if they would like to retain a larger number of the graduates they educate. This means addressing the barriers, such as skills and transport links, to business creation and growth in each of these cities.
Leave a comment
Be the first to add a comment.