Stalled economy hitting Glasgow harder than other Scottish cities

Jan 25 2012 By Tristan Stewart-Robertson

GLASGOW is getting hit harder by the stalled economy than other major Scottish cities, according to a new report.

While Edinburgh and Aberdeen rank among the top 10 cities across the UK in economic indicators, Glasgow and Dundee sit in the bottom 10.

By 2014-15, Glasgow is set to see welfare cuts of £175 a head – eighth worst out of 63 cities surveyed by the Cities Outlook 2012 report.

In the report by the Centre for Cities research group, Glasgow is lumped together with East and West Dumbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, making it the fourth largest city by population and third biggest by size.

But Glasgow had just a 0.44 per cent increase in population from 2009 to 2010, 15th worst.

And the housing stock change grew just 0.1 per cent – fifth worst in the country.

All four major Scottish centres are in the top 11 for workers with high-level qualifications. But when it comes to manufacturing jobs, all four are in the bottom 17 cities.

And 17.3 per cent of Glasgow’s residents have no formal qualifications, ranking 57th out of 64 cities.

A council spokesman said: “The council has taken a number of steps to help the city through the current financial situation, including initiatives like the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative and the Commonwealth Graduate Fund, which have been designed to help get our school leavers and graduates into training and employment.

“We also recently announced the membership of an economic leadership board which will oversee the implementation of a new economic strategies.”

Alexandra Jones, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “Some cities have been hit hard by recession and the gap between cities is widening.”

The Scottish Government announced last week they would add an extra £2million to the
£5million Cities Investment Fund.