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Articles

The Geography of Wage Inequality in British Cities

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Pages 1714-1727 | Received 24 Jan 2014, Accepted 12 May 2015, Published online: 29 Jul 2015
 

Abstract

Lee N., Sissons P. and Jones K. The geography of wage inequality in British cities, Regional Studies. There is widespread concern about the scale and implications of urban inequality in Great Britain, but little evidence about 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.

Lee N., Sissons P. and Jones K. 英国城市中的薪资不均地理,区域研究。对于英国城市不均的范畴及意涵,已有广泛的关注,但却鲜少有证据显示何座城市最为不均、且为何如此。本文探讨英国六十座城市薪资不均的模式,并具有两项主要目标:(1)描绘哪些城市最为不均;以及(2)评价不均的重要决定因素。研究结果显示出薪资不均的特殊地理:最为不均的城市,倾向是富裕、且位于英格兰大东南地区的城市。这些模式的核心决定因素,则是高技术劳工的地理。因此,城市的薪资不均之地理,更普遍地反映了财富的地理。

Lee N., Sissons P. et Jones K. La géographie de l'inégalité des salaires dans les grandes villes britanniques, Regional Studies. Nombreux sont ceux qui s'inquiètent de l'importance et des conséquences de l'inégalité urbaine en Grande-Bretagne, mais rares sont les preuves qui démontrent quelles villes s'avèrent les plus inégales et pourquoi. Cet article examine la structure de l'inégalité dans 60 grandes villes en Grande-Bretagne, dont deux objectifs principaux: (1) présenter les grandes villes les plus inégales; et (2) évaluer les déterminants clés de l'inégalité. Les résultats montrent une géographie très nette de l'inégalité des salaires: les grandes villes les plus inégales ont tendance à être riches et situées dans des zones de la grande couronne du sud-est de l'Angleterre. La géographie des travailleurs hautement qualifiés est un déterminant clé de ces modèles. Pour cette raison, la géographie de l'inégalité des salaires urbaine reflète la géographie de la richesse de manière plus générale.

Lee N., Sissons P. und Jones K. Geografie der Lohnungleichheit in britischen Städten, Regional Studies. Über den Umfang und die Auswirkungen der Ungleichheit in britischen Städten herrscht allgemeine Besorgnis, doch hinsichtlich der Frage, welche Städte die größte Ungleichheit aufweisen und warum, liegt nur wenig Evidenz vor. In diesem Beitrag werden die Muster der Lohnungleichheit in 60 britischen Städten untersucht. Hiermit werden zwei Hauptziele verfolgt: (1) die Beschreibung, welche Städte die größte Ungleichheit aufweisen, und (2) die Untersuchung der wichtigsten Determinanten der Ungleichheit. Aus den Ergebnissen geht eine unterschiedliche Geografie der Lohnungleichheit hervor: Die Städte mit der größten Ungleichheit sind in der Regel wohlhabend und befinden sich im Großraum des Südostens von England. Eine zentrale Determinante dieser Muster ist die Geografie der hochqualifizierten Arbeitnehmer. Aus diesem Grund ist die Geografie der Lohnungleichheit in Städten ein Abbild der generellen Geografie des Wohlstands.

Lee N., Sissons P. y Jones K. Geografía de la desigualdad salarial en ciudades británicas, Regional Studies. Hay una preocupación generalizada por la escala y las repercusiones de las desigualdades urbanas en Gran Bretaña, pero poca evidencia sobre qué ciudades son las más desiguales y por qué. En este artículo investigamos los patrones de las desigualdades de salarios de 60 ciudades británicas. Nuestros objetivos principales son dos: (1) describir qué ciudades son las más desiguales; y (2) evaluar los determinantes importantes de la desigualdad. Los resultados indican una geografía diferente de la desigualdad de salarios: las ciudades más desiguales suelen ser prósperas y ubicadas en zonas del sudeste de Inglaterra. Un factor determinante de estos patrones es la geografía de los trabajadores altamente cualificados. Por este motivo, la geografía de la desigualdad de salarios en zonas urbanas es un reflejo general de la geografía de la riqueza.

JEL classifications:

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Chris Goulden, Tom Phillips, Ian Gordon, Naomi Clayton, Alex Fenton, Ruth Lupton and the participants at the Urban Geography Research Group Annual Conference 2012; as well as three insightful referees and Professor Ivan Turok for helpful comments made. The data used are Crown Copyright and were made available by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) through the UK Data Archive. The data are reproduced with permission. Neither the ONS nor the Data Archive bears any responsibility for the analysis and interpretation of the data presented in this study. The authors would like to acknowledge the help of the Secure Data Service in accessing data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The cities are Aberdeen, Barnsley, Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Burnley, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Crawley, Derby, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gloucester, Grimsby, Guildford & Aldershot, Hastings, Huddersfield, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Luton & Watford, Maidstone & North Kent, Manchester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough & Stockton, Milton Keynes & Aylesbury, Newcastle & Durham, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading & Bracknell, Rochdale & Oldham, Sheffield & Rotherham, Southampton, Southend & Brentwood, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Swindon, Telford, Wakefield & Castleford, Warrington & Wigan, Wirral & Ellesmere Port, Worthing, and York.

2. All inequality measures are calculated using the Stata INEQDECO programme developed by Stephen Jenkins (Jenkins, Citation1999).

3. Running simple correlations between the Gini coefficient and both upper-tail (90/50) and lower-tail (50/10) inequality suggests a stronger relationship for the former (correlation coefficient = 0.8) than for the latter (0.7), although both are statistically significant.

4. Collinearity, which is one potential reason of the insignificance of these variables, is not a problem according to standard diagnostic tests. The mean variance inflation factor (VIF) is only 2.38, well below the common rule of thumb of 7.0. The highest VIF is 3.21 for the Median wage variable.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

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