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Location Leeds: a better environment for business

Essential guide to the Leeds commercial property market, showcasing the city's premier business locations. Features out of town and city centre offices, retail and industrial premises. Published in association with Yorkshire Business Insider.

Leeds:The Facts
the key facts

Statistical overview of the economy of Leeds and the city region including information on key sectors, workforce, population and output.

Business in Leeds:
the key facts

Detailed information on the Leeds economy covering everything from financial services to the media, workforce and skills also providing an overview of the Leeds lifestyle including education, leisure and healthcare.

Holbeck Urban Village: a creative location for business

A fast developing location for creative and digital media businesses close to the centre of Leeds. Includes case studies of companies based in the area.

Government departments and agencies

Detailed report is available setting out the advantages of Leeds as a location for government departments and agencies. Includes case studies.

Shared Service Centres

Detailed report on advantages of Leeds as a location for shared services centres. Includes studies of shared services operations based in Leeds.

Making it in Leeds

Detailed report on the manufacturing sector in Leeds, including case studies on some of the city's leading manufacturers.

Conference Leeds

Guide to 290 venues for conferences, seminars and training events in Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield and Pennine Yorkshire.

Workforce

The characteristics of the Leeds labour market are well suited to the needs of modern businesses. Strong traditions in part time and shift work, a willingness to travel, a high proportion of working women and a large student population have enabled operations requiring a flexible and dedicated workforce to flourish in Leeds.

The diversity of the Leeds economy ensures that the workforce has expertise across a broad range of sectors, including financial and professional services, in particular banking, insurance and legal services.

Leeds remains one of the UK’s largest centres for manufacturing, with key strengths in engineering, print and publishing, food and drink manufacture, electronics and medical device manufacture. Employers will also find core skills in healthcare, ICT, digital and media, construction, logistics and retail.

Cushman and Wakefield’s European Cities Monitor 2010 named Leeds the UK’s best ranked city for cost of staff. The average gross weekly wage in Leeds is £549 for men and £326 for women, compared to UK averages of £589 and £370, and inner London averages of £814 and £578.

The Leeds city region has a population of 3 million and a workforce of 1.5 million. The workforce is highly self-contained: 93% of people who live in the city region also work here and 93% of people who work in the city region also live here.

The city of Leeds has an estimated population of 802,000, a working age population of 534,000 and a workforce of 422,000.

The Centre for Cities has identified Leeds a one of five UK cities and locations most likely to enjoy a private sector-led recovery in 2011, create jobs and be least impacted by the effect of public sector spending cuts [Cities Outlook 2011].

Cushman and Wakefield’s UK Cities Monitor 2008 placed Leeds in the top three cities in the UK in terms of ease of recruiting qualified staff.

According to the Annual Population Survey 2009, 30.9% of Leeds’ working age population is qualified to NVQ4 level or above, compared to a national figure of 29.9%.

The City Region Employer Coalition has a network of 200 employers who work with the public sector to ensure that employment and skills programmes meet the needs of employers.

Graduates Yorkshire works with the region’s ten university careers services to provide employers with a cost-effective, straightforward means of attracting and recruiting graduates.