The economy of Leeds is the most diverse economy of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities. Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015.[2]
Leeds is the largest legal and financial centre in England outside of London,[2][3] and third largest in the UK after Edinburgh, and in 2011 its financial and insurance services industry was worth £2.1 billion.[2][4] with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city.[3]
Leeds is also the UK's third largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology.[5] Leeds is also ranked as a gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network;[6] Over the next ten years, the economy is forecast to grow by 25% with financial and business services set to generate over half of GVA growth over that period with finance and business services accounting for 38% of total output. Other key sectors include retail, leisure and the visitor economy, construction, manufacturing and the creative and digital industries.[2]
Leeds' growth has helped to change the economic geography of the United Kingdom, as Leeds is now the largest financial centres in Britain outside the capital.[3] New tertiary industries such as retail, call centres, offices and media have contributed to a high rate of economic growth since the early 1990s. Leeds was successful in becoming the first British city to have full broadband and digital coverage during the dot-com bubble, enabling it to become one of the key hubs in the emerging new media sector. Companies such as Freeserve, Energis, Sportal, TEAMtalk, Contactmusic.com and Ananova emerged from Leeds to dominate the UK internet industry. Now, over 33% of the UK's internet traffic passes through Leeds, making it one of the most important regional internet centres in the UK.
- ^ "Leeds economy". www.leeds.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Leeds economy". Archived from the original on 18 January 2017.
- ^ a b c "Financial centres outside london". Cisi.org. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Table 3.4, ONS Regional GVA – December 2013". Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ Manufacturing |Leeds economy & relocation Archived 8 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Locate in Leeds. Retrieved on 17 July 2013.
- ^ "The World According to GaWC 2010". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2011.