Towns in parts of Greater Manchester are seeing a surge in employment – and Trafford is faring the best.
New figures released today by the Office for National Statistics have analysed the population, employment, and income deprivation of 1,082 towns across England and Wales.
The analysis revealed that in Urmston in Trafford, employment growth soared by 180.9 per cent between 2009 and 2017.
It means employment grew 18 times faster than the national average across England and Wales (10.0 per cent).
There were 62 towns across Greater Manchester included in the analysis – and six of the top 10 were all in Trafford.
After Urmston, employment rose fastest in Milnrow in Rochdale (108.7 per cent).
That was followed by Eccles in Salford (60.6 per cent), Worsley in Salford (58.1 per cent), Standish in Trafford (57.8 per cent), and Platt Bridge, also in Trafford (51.5 per cent).
Despite Trafford’s success, the two areas of Greater Manchester that have seen the biggest fall in employment growth were also towns in the borough.
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Hale’s employment growth slumped by 23.0 per cent between 2009 and 2017, while in Stretford it fell by 14.5 per cent.
The ONS also ranked towns based on their income deprivation score and placed them into 10 categories.
The towns with the worst average score of income deprivation are considered to be in decile one.
Those with the lowest average score of income deprivation are in decile 10.
Urmston is in decile seven while Hale is in decile 10.
There were 11 towns across Greater Manchester found to be in decile 1 – meaning they had the worst levels of income deprivation.
They included Eccles in Salford, Partington (Trafford), Ince-in-Makerfield (Trafford), Heywood (Rochdale) Farnworth in Bolton, Middleton (Rochdale), and Oldham.
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The analysis divided the country into “small” towns, with populations between 5,000 and 20,000 people, “medium” towns, with 20,000 to 75,000 residents, and “large” towns, with populations of 75,000 and 225,000.
As well as areas that are officially towns, the figures also class some large villages, small cities and other urban settlements with populations within this range as towns.
There were approximately 32.6 million people living in such towns in England and Wales – accounting for more than half the population.
The ONS said they performed the analysis because it was important to know which areas were growing and which were falling behind to help “inform appropriate policies”.