Migration and fiscal policy as factors explaining the labour-market resilience of UK regions to the Great Recession

Continuing divergence after the crisis: long-term regional economic development in the United Kingdom

“…However, these tendencies differ across regions (Bell-Eiser 2016). In the literature, London and the South East emerged as more resilient than other (older industrial) regions (Fingleton et al 2012 10 London proved quite resilient after the crisis, since it recovered its pre-recession employment level and rate substantially before the other regions (Bell-Eiser 2016). More in detail, during the recovery, there was a significant rise in part-time work relative to full-time work, which sheds light on the phenomena of underemployment (people work part-time but wish to have a full-time job) and hidden unemployment (partial inactivity).…”

“…As a response to the recession in 2008 and 2009, in the labour market, the UK experienced a prolonged fall in productivity, a stronger employment performance, a rapid growth in part-time and self-employment, and a dramatic decrease in real wages. However, these tendencies differ across regions (Bell-Eiser 2016). In the literature, London and the South East emerged as more resilient than other (older industrial) regions (Fingleton et al 2012 10 London proved quite resilient after the crisis, since it recovered its pre-recession employment level and rate substantially before the other regions (Bell-Eiser 2016).…”

“…The smallest decrease (1.1 percentage points) was reported in Northern Ireland: from 7.2 per cent in 2011 to 6.1 per cent in 2015, which suggests that this region is the least resilient. The regional differences in the impacts of the crisis on the labour market can be explained, among other important factors, by internal and international migration flows, as well as by the structure of the immigrant labour force (Bell-Eiser 2016).…”

“…The GDP growth realised in the past few years is mainly attributable to the increase in the hours worked (that is, increasing employment and decreasing unemployment) rather than productivity growth, which means that the labour market performance has been relatively strong during and after the crisis. As a result, wages and living standards have stagnated since the end of the crisis, and real wages fell during the recovery to a level around 10 per cent lower than before the recession (Gregg et al 2014, Bell-Eiser 2016. Nominal wages have been frozen and even cut during the recovery, which resulted in decreasing wages in real terms due to the inflation.…”

Community attachment, job loss and regional labour mobility in Canada: Evidence from the Great Recession

“…Previous studies show worsening conditions increase out-migration and dissuade in-migration (Røed and Schøne 2012, Villarreal 2014, Bell and Eiser 2016, Kahanec and Zimmermann 2016. While such effects are now understood, less is known about factors underpinning why some stay in place to endure economic hardship whereas others in objectively similar situations choose to leave.…”