North West cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Preston are amongst fastest improving cities for the third year running.
According to PwC’s latest Good Growth for Cities Index, Liverpool came out second behind Bradford as most improved city whilst Manchester also featured in the Top 10 for the second year running.
Preston continued its positive momentum from last years ‘most improved city’ status by being the highest performing North West city overall climbing one place to 12th.
Liverpool experienced the biggest increase in its score relative to last year, with notable improvements in jobs, work life balance and new businesses.
As a whole, cities in the North West perform well on the following criteria; work - life balance, where all cities in the region perform above the national average.
House price to earnings, where all but one city (Birkenhead) score above the 海角视频 average. Jobs, where all cities in the North West score above or around the 海角视频 average.
Manchester and Liverpool have seen gradual increases in their scores over the past 11 years.
Manchester’s index score has risen by 0.39 and is now exactly in line with the national average. This has primarily been driven by an improvement in new businesses and skills, especially for those over 25.
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Liverpool began at a much lower starting point, with a score of -0.42 however it has seen a larger increase in index score over this time period, rising by 0.64, helping it to catch up with the national average.
This is due to improvements in almost all variables, but especially in skills, new businesses and jobs.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority performed strongly coming third in the index’s Combined Authority rankings.
The area saw a particular rise in new businesses variable, but this growth was coupled with a worsening in house price to earnings, making the are less affordable.
The Liverpool City region comes 6th of all Combined Authorities, with improvements in jobs, income and new businesses per head.
Of the five LEP’s Cheshire and Warrington is the strongest performing in the region coming 9th out of 38 LEP’s.
This is due to strong performances in new businesses and jobs. The rest of the LEP areas within the region perform around the national average, apart from Liverpool City region, which is 31st in the index.
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However, this area has seen strongest improvement of any LEP, driven by increases in jobs and new businesses.
Adam Waller, PwC’s Manchester Office Senior Partner said; “It’s pleasing to see cities like Preston, Liverpool and Manchester continuing to make a positive impact within this years’ index which is testament to the vibrant and sustainable economy which is being created across the North West.
“Building and creating ongoing working relationships between business, Combined Authorities and LEP’s is vital to ensure that this positive momentum is maintained.
“It’s essential that in order for the region to prosper post-Brexit we all need to ensure we play our part.”
The annual index sets out to show there’s more to economic well-being than just measuring GDP.
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The index measures the performance of 42 of the 海角视频’s largest cities, England’s Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and ten Combined Authorities, against a basket of 10 factors which the public think are most important when it comes to economic well-being.
These include jobs, health, income and skills, as well as work-life balance, house-affordability, travel-to-work times, income equality, environment and business start-ups.