Introduction

The United Kingdom is characterised by an uneven economic geography, with large and persistent regional disparities in economic activity (Gardiner et al, 2013; Martin et al, 2016). Labour market outcomes and conditions vary quite widely over space. Even set within the context of rising employment rates generally in recent years, concentrations of labour market disadvantage persist in a range of settings. This includes areas of deprivation in large urban areas and former industrial towns (Beatty and Fothergill, 2020a, 2020b), as well as in some seaside towns (Beatty et al, 2017). Areas with comparatively weak local economies suffered most in the 2008–09 recession (Lee, 2014) and also appear to have been most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Houston, 2020).

The characteristics of place shape labour market outcomes both through the types of jobs that are available locally, as well as through factors which influence the ability of local residents to benefit from the available employment opportunities (either in the immediate area or through commuting). This includes, for example, factors such as transport infrastructure, training opportunities and the availability of childcare which can enable or constrain residents’ ability to access employment opportunities (Green, 2020).

In line with national trends, unemployment rates in the area types identified earlier have largely been on a long-term decline prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, although they tend to remain above the national average (Beatty and Fothergill, 2020a). However, since the 1990s there has also been a concern with rates of economic inactivity, in addition to unemployment. A major driver of this concern has been inactivity due to ill health and the comparatively large historic growth in the numbers of claimants of sickness-related benefits (Beatty et al, 2009; Barnes and Sissons, 2013). More recently, there has also been a shift to increasing concerns with issues of in-work poverty and poor job quality among those entering the labour force (Jung and Collings, 2021). From the perspective of the policy approach to active labour market policy (ALMP), this concern with job quality has primarily been articulated in terms of access to opportunities for labour market progression (Sissons, 2020).

These disparities in labour market outcomes, in terms of unemployment, economic inactivity and job quality and wages, have driven increasing interest in greater local tailoring or ownership of ALMP interventions.