ABSTRACT
The economy of Yorkshire and Humberside, in common with that of other industrial regions of the United Kingdom, has undergone a major transformation during the 1980s. The region’s traditional primary and manufacturing industries have shed labour rapidly as a consequence of severe rationalization and extensive restructuring. The extent of deindustrialisation can be gauged by the fact that in 1989, there were 66,000 fewer jobs in primary industries (including coal-mining) and over 74,000 fewer jobs in manufacturing industries than in 1981. In contrast, the growth in service sector activities has been emphatic, with the tertiarization process creating 194,000 more jobs between 1981 and 1989. Various signs of the new forms of investment that have taken place in the region are now visible and there is evidence to suggest that the economy experienced an upturn at least in parallel with that occurring in the national economy during the second half of the 1980s. Demand for vacant office space in the region’s major cities began to outstrip supply. The cities of Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield have been at the forefront of this resurgence, but patterns of outward growth towards rural hinterlands are also evident. A short profile of the region is presented in the following sections which documents the extent of changes occurring in the region’s economic structure, summarizes primary elements of support for development and draws attention to future issues of regional significance.
