{"id":536997,"date":"2025-10-30T06:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536997\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T06:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:16:14","slug":"greater-manchester-still-victim-to-londons-brain-drain-with-salaries-3k-lower-here-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536997\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Manchester still victim to London’s brain drain with salaries \u00a33k lower here, report says"},"content":{"rendered":"

And more than three in ten Northerners think their opportunities are limited up hereManchester has all the signs of a growing economy, but it’s still decade behind London(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Despite a development boom, influx of multi-national companies, and tens of thousands of new homes, Manchester is still falling victim to the London brain drain.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to a new report which says Mancunian salaries are \u00a33,000 lower than the UK average. The capital currently has three-quarters of the country\u2019s top-paying jobs, up from half of big money roles three decades ago.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s helped turbo-charge the north-south divide, the report adds, which now means Greater Manchester is 35pc less economically productive than London. The difference between Paris and Lyon, France\u2019s second largest-economy, is 20pc.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Shockingly, experts believe, at current rates, it would take Greater Manchester 90 years just to close the gap to 20pc.<\/p>\n

Northerners are feeling the pull south, new Good Growth Foundation polling suggests, as more than three in 10 believe living here limits their opportunities in life.<\/p>\n

The report, written by former Bury<\/a> Labour<\/a> councillor Nathan Boroda, makes a series of recommendations to the government and mayor\u2019s office to narrow the divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreater Manchester is on the up with the fastest growth in the country, buses under public control and a new, revolutionary Manchester baccalaureate (MBacc),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut systemic issues mean there is far more to do on closing the opportunity gap with London. It\u2019s time to double down and empower mayors with new powers on investment, education and employment support so we can turbocharge regional success, creating opportunities for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Boroda recommends government rules which direct investment to areas of highest economic productivity should be thrown out, Manchester should focus on growing its AI sector 10pc annually, and a new advertising campaign promoting the city should go nationwide, especially targeting London\u2019s business community.<\/p>\n

The pull from London is strong, with huge investment in buildings like The Shard (pictured) bringing in talent(Image: AP)<\/p>\n

There are also calls to give Andy Burnham<\/a> more powers in areas like education, to help develop a generation of Mancunian entrepreneurs, and employment, to help people back into work faster.<\/p>\n

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Andy Burnham has welcomed the calls. He said: \u201cGreater Manchester has shown what\u2019s possible when power is put in local hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the Bee Network to the MBacc, we\u2019re providing change people can see and feel. The next step is to go further by putting more power and funding in local hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr Burnham isn\u2019t the only one who wants to give the mayor more power. In the same polling, he was identified as the politician most likely to improve the north of England (25pc), with local councils and the government lagging behind (13pc), showing there is some appetite for more devolution.<\/p>\n

The same stats found more than half of respondents (57pc) believe local pride has weakened since the seventies and three-quarters (76pc) said the north\u2019s economy has worsened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And more than three in ten Northerners think their opportunities are limited up hereManchester has all the signs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8916,748,393,4884,2465,8086,29712,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-536997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-city-centre","14":"tag-manchester-development","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115461658702505122","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}