The geography of wage inequality in British cities

Lee, N; Sissons, P; Jones, KE

Abstract

There is widespread concern about the scale and implications of urban inequality in Great Britain, but little evidence on which cities are the most unequal and why. This paper investigates patterns of wage inequality in 60 British cities. It has two principal goals: (1) to describe which cities are most unequal and (2) to assess the important determinants of inequality. The results show a distinct geography of wage inequality, the most unequal cities tend to be affluent and located in parts of the Greater South East of England. A central determinant of these patterns is the geography of highly skilled workers. Because of this, the geography of urban wage inequality reflects the geography of affluence more generally.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 12, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 29, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 29, 2017
• Journal: Regional Studies
• Print ISSN: 0034-3404
• Electronic ISSN: 1360-0591
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 50
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 1714-1727
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2015.1053859
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2015.1053859
• Related Public URLs: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cres20/current#.VZvmZaI0XTo
• Additional Information: Projects : Wage inequality and employment polarisation in British cities