Which cities top the wealth league?

The rise of high tech 'knowledge' jobs is helping break down England's traditional North/South wealth dynamic. But success in the private sector is often key to making a region thrive.

A report by The Work Foundation has found cities in various parts of England - not just the South East - are thriving on the back of growth in 'knowledge intensive jobs'.

It is no longer a case of poorer North vs richer South. Report author and researcher, Naomi Clayton, said in a statement: "Inequalities, challenges and successes are scattered throughout the regions of England."

The need for the UK to upskill in order to compete on a global stage has long been a mantra of government and IT skills are also often singled out as vital to ensuring future economic success in a web-enabled world.

The Work Foundation report backs this view: economic success in every region of the UK is increasingly dependent on 'knowledge work', it says, or "well-educated minds, cheap computers, high value business and sophisticated goods and services".

The report, entitled Cities and the Role of the Public Sector in the Knowledge Economy, looks at the economic conditions of 56 major English cities in relation to the amount of 'high value knowledge intensive employment' in their public and private sectors. Regions with the most 'knowledge workers' are thriving, while those without are lagging behind, said Clayton.

Sixty-two per cent of London's workers are knowledge workers, according to the research, and average weekly earnings in London exceed £493 compared to a national average of £373. But the research also points to other English cities where local prospects are being boosted by knowledge-based jobs.

Cities with levels of productivity above the average - and growing knowledge economies in both public and private sectors - include Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, as well as Derby, Ipswich and Northampton.

Those cities stand in contrast to the likes of Blackpool, Burnley, Doncaster, Hastings, Liverpool, Plymouth and Wakefield - where private sector employment is diminishing and productivity is much lower than average. These areas have low numbers of graduates, relatively low pay and low skill levels, according to The Work Foundation.

Other regions where private sector employment is in decline include Birmingham, Bournemouth, Chatham, Norwich, Telford and Wigan. Here skills are relatively low and earnings are below average.

Cities that have more knowledge-intensive jobs in the public sector tend to be less competitive than those where most knowledge jobs are in the private sector - so attracting private sector knowledge industries is essential to driving productivity, said The Work Foundation report.

Exceptions to the rule include the university cities of Cambridge and Oxford which are performing well on the back of knowledge economies dominated by public sector employment.

A recent study by ReThink Recruitment found IT wages are rising faster up North than in London, as regeneration and the rising cost of living in the South have helped make it more attractive to employers and workers alike.