The Leeds city region has a population of 2.9 million. With Leeds at its centre,  it brings together Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Selby, Wakefield and York as a single economic unit, with a labour force of over 1.5 million and a combined output of £47.7 billion.

 

Key assets include economic diversity, the knowledge economy and connectivity: the Leeds city region lies at the crossroads of the UK transportation network, and is the home of 101,000 businesses and six universities.

 

In the next decade, the Leeds and Bradford economies are forecast to exceed growth rates for the UK as a whole.

 

Communications, banking, insurance and other financial services, education and health will feature as key areas of employment growth.

 

Digital and creative industries, bioscience, distribution and logistics also represent opportunities for growth.

 

Manufacturing continues to be a key sector, accounting for almost 178,300 jobs in advanced engineering, bioscience and medical technology, food and drink, chemicals and printing.

 

The Leeds city region is one of the largest centres for financial and business services in the UK, employing around 298,000. The sector is forecast to create a further 44,600 jobs over the next decade.

 

The public sector is a major employer, with over 370,500 people working in public administration, education and healthcare across the city region.

 

The Department of Health is one of the biggest central government employers with 1,000 employees based in Leeds. They share the iconic Quarry House with 1,800 staff from the Department for Work & Pensions.

 

Other government departments and agencies with a presence in Leeds include the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office Immigration and Nationality

Directorate, the Office for Government Commerce and HM Revenue and Customs.

 

The Leeds city region is home to the six universities of Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leeds Met, York and York St John, which produce more than 34,000 graduates every year.

 

The University of Leeds, along with Sheffield and York, is a member of the White Rose University Consortium. The combined research power of the three universities ranks alongside Oxford and Cambridge and accounts for 86% of the region's higher education research spend.

 

A net total of over 90,000 people travel to work in Leeds from the surrounding city region every day.

 

Daily flights from Leeds Bradford International Airport connect the city region to the major European holiday and business destinations, while international airports at Manchester and Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield are less than an hour’s drive away.

 

Over the next ten years, the Leeds City Region Development Programme aims to develop a dynamic city region that can compete with the  best in Europe, boosting output by an extra £7 billion and creating an additional 150,000 new jobs.