Ex-mining areas still suffering decades on
FORMER COALFIELDS CONTINUE TO FACE JOBS SHORTAGE
MANY former coalfield communities are still facing a shortage of quality jobs 40 years after the Miners’ Strike, a new report has found.
The State of the Coalfields 2024 report revealed that the rate of job growth in the former coalfields has been far slower than in the main regional cities.
The most recent figures show that in the former coalfields there are only 57 employee jobs for every 100 residents of working age, compared to a national average of 73 jobs per 100, and 88 per 100 in regional cities.
And when it came to increasing employment rates, several of the larger coalfields – South Wales, Durham, Northumberland and North Derbyshire – experienced slow job growth, with Northumberland one of the worst affected areas, rising only 3% between 2012 and 2022.
The shortage of local jobs means that many coalfield residents now have to commute and the quality of jobs is also below the standard in other areas, according to the third report commissioned by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) from the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University. Similar studies were published in 2014 and 2019.
It found that more than half of employed residents work in manual jobs, and average hourly earnings are 6-7% below the national average.
In some parts of the country, warehousing now employs 175,000 people in the former coalfields – almost as many as the coal industry itself just prior to the 1984/5 strike.
Overall, the report argues, the changes mean that many of the young and better qualified are having to move away, leaving a population which is older and in poorer health.
Almost 600,000 coalfield residents – one in six of all adults of working age – claim out-of-work benefits. Durham had the joint highest percentage at 19.2% with South Wales. Northumberland ranked in fourth place with 17.6%.
Professor Steve Fothergill, coauthor of the report, said: “Britain’s coalfields have moved on since the job losses of the 1980s and 90s. There has been substantial progress
in new job creation and the former coalfields have emerged with new roles in local and regional economies.
“But the full benefits of job growth have not always filtered through to local residents.”
The report finds that if brought together, the former coalfields would likely be the most deprived region in the UK.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is calling on governments across the UK and leaders in coalfield communities to do more to support economic growth in former coalfield communities to enable these areas to reach their full potential.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is working to tackle the issues identified in State of the Coalfields 2024 through its community wealth
building model. It builds industrial units for SMEs to generate jobs and economic growth in former coalfield areas and then uses the rental income to fund charitable programmes to tackle economic and social issues. The CRT is also funded by the Scottish and Welsh Governments in Scotland and Wales.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust asks political decision makers to work with the CRT and the 700+ grassroots community organisations we partner with in order to tackle these issues once and for all.
Linda McAvan, chair of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, said: “We are seeing positive steps towards improving the economy in the former coalfields – however it is concerning that our progress is slower than in other parts of the country.”