Greater Manchester remains the largest economy outside the South East

The quarterly edition of New Economy’s Manchester Monitor – a snapshot of the latest trends in the sub-regional economy – compares Greater Manchester with other UK regions to confirm it is the largest economy outside of the South East.

Greater Manchester now has the largest business base and the highest number of employed people outside of London (90,000 businesses and 1,184,668 employees respectively).

However, the region has shown a significant dip in the output of its construction industry, with orders worth £746.8 million recorded in the first six months of 2012 - £171.9 million less than orders made across the same period in 2011.

This mixed fortune is demonstrated across the board, with Manchester Airport for example, continuing to enjoy success – in August its passenger numbers rose by 2.5% to 2.18 million – whilst house prices have steadily declined with Greater Manchester now offering the cheapest housing in the country (an average cost of £104,357 in August 2012).

In August, Greater Manchester’s jobseekers allowance (JSA) claimants also increased by 4.6%, rising to 85,038.

Baron Frankal, director of economic strategy at New Economy, said of this month’s monitor: “It’s certainly not all doom and gloom as the low house prices and density of businesses across Greater Manchester will be a draw for talented people who are looking for affordable homes.

“There is also good news to be found in the increase of passenger numbers at the airport and the strong levels of hotel occupancy.

“Despite this, Greater Manchester is still suffering from low productivity levels and worklessness – with its JSA claimants rising each month. Therefore the large scale projects and developments must be encouraged to continue, if more people are to able to find work in the region.

“We’ve already seen this with the success of areas such as Spinningfields in the city centre, and soon we hope to see it again with the development around the Co-operative Group’s new headquarters, NOMA, and the realisation of Airport City.

“If this scale of investment and vision continues across the region, Greater Manchester will continue to be a force to be reckoned with and will be able to hold strong its title of ‘the largest economy outside of the South East.”