The London Employment Problem: 5 (ESRC Inner Cities Research Programme S.) - Softcover

This is a study of economic change, jobs, and public policy in London. It focuses particularly on two groups of boroughs - Brent, Ealing and Hounslow in outer west London; and Southwark, Lewisham, and Greenwich in inner south-east Lonon - but relates their experience to broader patterns of change in the whole metropolitan region. Since the early 1960s London has experienced a massive decline in both populaton and employment which has been seen as weakening the economic base of the city. The authors examine the process of decentralization, job loss, and labour market adjustment which have shaped the London employment problem, and the attempts of the London authorities to promote economic development. They challenge the view that decentralization has seriously weakened the London economy. They argue, rather , that the central problems are inequality in the housing and labour markets, exacerbated by national recession and a fragmented local government system.