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How far do England's second-order cities emulate London as human-capital ‘escalators’?

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  • Champion, Tony
  • Coombes, Mike
  • Gordon, Ian R.

Abstract

In the urban resurgence accompanying the growth of the knowledge economy, second-order cities appear to be losing out to the principal city, especially where the latter is much larger and benefits from substantially greater agglomeration economies. The view that any city can make itself attractive to creative talent seems at odds with the idea of a country having just one 'escalator region' where the rate of career progression is much faster, especially for in-migrants. This paper takes the case of England, with its highly primate city-size distribution, and tests how its second-order cities (in size order, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Sheffield, Liverpool, Nottingham, and Leicester) compare with London as human-capital escalators. The analysis is based on the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Survey of linked census records for 1991-2001 and uses one key indicator of upward social mobility - the transition from White Collar Non-core to White Collar Core. For non-migrants, the transition rate for the second-order cities combined is found to fall well short of London's, but in one case - Manchester - the rate is significantly higher than the rest of the country outside the Greater South East. Those moving to the second-order cities during the decade experienced much stronger upward social mobility than their non-migrants, but this 'migrant premium' was generally similar to that for London, suggesting that it results from people moving only after they have secured a better job. Second-order cities, therefore, cannot rely on the speculative migration of talented people but need suitable jobs ready for them to access.

Suggested Citation

  • Champion, Tony & Coombes, Mike & Gordon, Ian R., 2014. "How far do England's second-order cities emulate London as human-capital ‘escalators’?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51260, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:51260
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/51260/
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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Sunley & Ron Martin & Ben Gardiner & Andy Pike, 2020. "In search of the skilled city: Skills and the occupational evolution of British cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(1), pages 109-133, January.
    2. Champion, Tony & Gordon, Ian, 2021. "Linking spatial and social mobility: is London's “escalator” as strong as it was?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112600, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Cardoso, Rodrigo V. & Meijers, Evert J. & van Ham, Maarten & Burger, Martijn J. & de Vos, Duco, 2017. "The City as a Self-Help Book: The Psychology of Urban Promises," IZA Discussion Papers 10693, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Buscha, Franz & Gorman, Emma & Sturgis, Patrick, 2021. "Spatial and social mobility in England and Wales: a sub-national analysis of differences and trends over time," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111605, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Will Rossiter & David J Smith, 2017. "Institutions, place leadership and public entrepreneurship: Reinterpreting the economic development of Nottingham," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(4), pages 374-392, June.
    6. Galster, George C. & Osland, Liv, 2024. "Educational and gender heterogeneity of the rural-urban earnings premium: New evidence from Norway," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    7. David Gray, 2023. "What Can District Migration Rates Tell Us about London’s Functional Urban Area?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Rodrigo Cardoso & Evert Meijers & Maarten van Ham & Martijn Burger & Duco de Vos, 2019. "Why bright city lights dazzle and illuminate: A cognitive science approach to urban promises," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(2), pages 452-470, February.
    9. Rodrigo V. Cardoso & Evert J. Meijers, 2016. "Contrasts between first-tier and second-tier cities in Europe: a functional perspective," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 996-1015, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    career progression; city region; England; human-capital escalator; ONS longitudinal Study; second-order cities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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