Phase 2 of Cambridge Econometric’s report commissioned by CBBC, ‘UK jobs dependent on links to China’ has been published
Building on Cambridge Econometric’s earlier report – which estimated that UK ties with China now generate some 129,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs – the new paper focuses on regions. Among the main findings are:
Trade, tourism and educational ties with China support an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 FTE jobs in each of Scotland, the North West, West Midlands and the South East.
London is the UK region with most FTE jobs linked to China with some 15,900 to 16,900 positions – largely thanks to tourism from China (estimated at 8,300 FTE jobs).
Trade in goods supports most of the jobs linked to China in other parts of the UK, a sign of the success British firms have had in recent years exporting to the world’s second-largest economy. Such trade supports an estimated 4-5,000 FTE jobs in the North West, for example, with a further 1,000 to 2,000 jobs supported in Yorkshire and the Humber, and 1,000 FTE jobs in the North East.
Tourism from China, pre-pandemic, has been a strong driver of jobs growth outside London, supporting 1,200 FTE positions in the North West, 1,000 in Yorkshire and The Humber and 1,000 in the South East.
The report also makes clear the economic importance of the large numbers of Chinese students now studying in the UK. Their presence helps to support 2,000 FTE jobs in each of Yorkshire and The Humber, the North West and the West Midlands. Manchester, Birmingham and Coventry each have 900 FTE jobs supported by expenditure by Chinese students.
