Local economic governance strategies in the UK’s post-industrial cities and the challenges of improving local work and employment conditions

Abstract

This study examines two inter-connected issues: the local economic governance strategies pursued by English local authorities in the post-2007 Crisis austerity period, and the impact of these strategies on local work and employment conditions. The study draws on interview data, policy documents and statistical datasets from an analysis of two English localities to understand how local authorities responded to the economic pressures resulting from the 2007 Crisis and subsequent imposition of austerity policies. The study finds local authorities engaged in various forms of entrepreneurial and austerity urbanist policies under conditions of tight budgetary constraints, resulting in an increased role for the private sector as a vehicle to generate jobs and increase tax revenue. This process has increased the influence of private sector actors within local government, part of a longer term trend. This study presents evidence to illustrate why this scenario is problematic for improving work and employment conditions, chiefly due to an unwillingness to progressively regulate work, and a prioritising of job quantity in terms of total employment, rather than favouring the creation of sustainable, high-quality local employment.