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Spatially-Concentrated Worklessness and Neighbourhood Policies: Experiences from New Labour in England

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Neighbourhood Effects or Neighbourhood Based Problems?

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Abstract

The persistence and entrenchment of spatial concentrations of worklessness (as unemployment has been rebranded in the policy literature) is a key characteristic of labour markets in advanced industrial economies. Understanding the causes of worklessness concentrated within particular neighbourhoods requires linking together an understanding of wider processes of labour market restructuring with the operation of various negative cycles that reinforce patterns of persistent worklessness. Such cycles are particularly rooted within person and household factors and the overall population mix, and are compounded by the operation of housing markets and neighbourhood effects. This chapter considers the precise role of neighbourhood effects in relation to the wider causes of concentrated worklessness and then considers the development and effectiveness of work-related neighbourhood policies. Through an examination of the extensive set of employment related initiatives developed under successive New Labour governments in relation to deprived neighbourhoods, this chapter considers the aims, outcomes and effectiveness of these initiatives and identifies the factors that constrained the ability of this policy agenda to transform the employment fortunes of England’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term ‘worklessness’ relates to those individuals involuntarily excluded from the labour market and claiming out-of-work benefits, including various forms of unemployment and incapacity/disability benefit.

  2. 2.

    This report identifies both a 5 group and more nuanced 10 group classification of employment-deprived neighbourhoods. These were derived using a number of selected characteristics comprising: Jobseeker’s Allowance claim rate; Incapacity Benefit index; percentage social rented dwellings; percentage private rented dwellings; percentage with no qualifications; percentage employed in manufacturing; percentage employed in hotels; percentage in elementary occupations; percentage Black Caribbean ethnicity; neighbourhood population turnover; neighbourhood population change (2001–2007); Gross Value Added per capita (£k).

  3. 3.

    The Action Team for Jobs initiative aimed to increase employment rates among disadvantaged groups in deprived areas based on outreach work in local communities and the involvement of community and voluntary organisations as well as employers.

  4. 4.

    A Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) is the smallest geographical area designed for the collection and publication of small area statistics within England and Wales.

  5. 5.

    A Section 106 Agreement permits a local planning authority to enter into a legally-binding agreement with a landowner/developer such that the granting of planning permission is dependent upon the provision of certain services and infrastructure, such as highways, recreational facilities, education, health and affordable housing.

  6. 6.

    These comprised: Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country; Blackburn with Darwen; East London; Greater Manchester; Leicester; Merseyside, Nottingham; South Yorkshire; Tyne and Wear; West London; Dundee; Edinburgh; Glasgow; Heads of the Valleys; Rhyl.

  7. 7.

    The A8 countries comprise eight of the ten countries that joined the European Union in 2004 from Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEEDR, Middlesex University Business School, The Burroughs Hendon, London, NW4 4BT, UK

    Stephen Syrett & David North

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  1. Stephen Syrett
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  2. David North
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Correspondence to Stephen Syrett .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom

    David Manley

  2. , OTB Research Inst for the Built Environm, Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 9, Delft, 2628 BX, Netherlands

    Maarten van Ham

  3. , Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8RS, United Kingdom

    Nick Bailey

  4. , The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and S, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom

    Ludi Simpson

  5. , Centre for Housing Research, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, Fife, United Kingdom

    Duncan Maclennan

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Syrett, S., North, D. (2013). Spatially-Concentrated Worklessness and Neighbourhood Policies: Experiences from New Labour in England. In: Manley, D., van Ham, M., Bailey, N., Simpson, L., Maclennan, D. (eds) Neighbourhood Effects or Neighbourhood Based Problems?. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6695-2_3

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