A new employment index has ranked the south-west as the best place to live and work.
According to the insurance company Phoenix Group, who ranked regions based on employees’ experience of “fulfilling and financially rewarding long-term employment”, South-West tops the list due to high job satisfaction.
In addition, the region’s cities, Bath, Bristol, and Exeter, scored high for economic activity and employment confidence.
London was ranked first for economic activity and financial security, but ranked third in job satisfaction. The capital also scored lower in terms of confidence for long-term employment. This lowered the overall ranking from first to second.
Phoenix’s Index, which surveyed 6,000 UK working adults on 13 metrics and compared them with data from the Office for National Statistics, ranked the north-west third.
According to the company, the data shows a North-South divide in economic activity levels. London was ranked number one on this metric followed by the South-East. Yorkshire, Wales, and the North-East were ranked as the lowest.
Phoenix stated that other metrics were less distinct in terms of differences and strengths between regions.
Scotland scored highest in terms of confidence in long-term work and in the ability to continue working until retirement (54%). Nearly nine out of 10 Scots were confident that they would continue to work up until age 60. 57% said they believed they would continue working until they reached 70.
Londoners, on the other hand, were less confident than any other region in their ability to work past 60 years old. Only 43% thought they could work into their 70s.
London was the top city for financial security. 31% of Londoners said they could live comfortably with their current income. In this category, the north-east and London were joint-first.
The findings of a recent study by the Centre for Cities confirm that the average annual wage in London is almost PS20,000 more than the lowest paid parts of the UK.
London was also the city with the highest percentage of people who were satisfied with their career potential, 62%.
Catherine Foot, Director of Phoenix Insights said: “Good-quality, satisfying jobs are important to people of every age, and improving employment opportunities in the country is vital for driving the economic growth that our country desperately needs. We need to improve the availability and accessibility of public employment support services.
We must ensure that local areas are given greater power to design and target employment and skills supports for people, by working closely with local employers and health and housing providers. We risk using solutions from the top down that do not meet the needs of the UK.
Mike Ambery from Standard Life in Phoenix, the retirement savings director, says that if people could consistently find fulfilling jobs across the nation, they would be able to save for their retirement.
He said: “Making certain that people in the UK can access good, fulfilling jobs they can stay at for as long as needed or desired is crucial to tackling our widespread under-saving pension crisis and helping people earn longer.
“Government must work with businesses to ensure that actions to keep people employed are targeted at the regional and local levels, in order to boost people’s savings ability wherever they reside in the UK.”
Subscribe to our weekly HR news and guidance
Every Wednesday, receive the Personnel Today Direct newsletter.
