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One third of all new jobs created in UK since 2008 have been in London

One in three of all new jobs created in the UK since the financial crash have been in London, according to figures released today by NatWest.

The numbers are part of the latest NatWest Regional Economic Tracker, which monitors employment levels in 12 regions across the UK, and show that there are 500,000 new jobs in the capital since 2008, representing a 14.4% increase and equating to a third of all new jobs created in the UK over the same period.

At Borough level, Newham, Greenham and Ealing can all boast the biggest jobs jumps with increases of 12%, 11% and 10% respectively.

However, the figures, which cover the year up to September 2015, underlined the dire employment prospects faced by many of the nation’s 16-24 years olds, as the city was the only area in the country to see a rise in employment amongst that age group.

Job growth amongst young workers rose 8.2% in the last 12 months, and marks the first time since 2008 that there were more jobs in London for 16-24 years olds than there were in the run up to the financial crash.

Nationally the figures make even bleaker reading, as there are 5% less young people in part-time or full-time work than eight years ago.

Despite the gloomy youth figures nationally, Sebastian Burnside, Senior Economist for NatWest who put the figures together, believes the findings underline London’s importance to the country as a whole.

He said: “London has held first place for job growth for most of the last three years, but its crown slipped in the last couple of quarters as employment growth edged lower to 2.2%, which is still comfortably above the national average of 1.9%.

“That incredible run from late 2012 means there are a staggering 14% more jobs in London than there were in 2008. This is a rise of over half a million, meaning that 1 in 3 of the net increase in jobs has occurred in London.”

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