An interesting report (based on official statistics) published by the GMB today shows that the manufacturing sector in Sheffield is in decline (as it is in many other areas). Only 13.5% of employment in Sheffield is now in this sector. Personally, I am not at all worried about this. providing this decline is being offset by the growth in the services sector. What the figures do show however is that Sheffield's image as an 'industrial city' (still less a 'steel city') is at variance with contemporary realities. I would accept that that other possible titles, such as 'student city' or 'call centre city' do not have the same resonance. Indeed, these would be inaccurate too, as employment in Sheffield seems to embrace a wide variety of occupational categories, none of which predominate.


http://www.gmb.org.uk/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/676E9948-FBEA-4B61-8349-CCB2499BE8E7_YHmanufacturingPR.pdf

What the figures do show however is that Sheffield's image as an 'industrial city' (still less a 'steel city') is at variance with contemporary realities. I would acept that that other possible titles, such as 'student city' or 'call centre city' do not have the same resonance. Indeed, these would be inaccurate too, as employment in Sheffield seems to embrace a wide variety of occupational categories, none of which predominate.


http://www.gmb.org.uk/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/676E9948-FBEA-4B61-8349-CCB2499BE8E7_YHmanufacturingPR.pdf [/B]

Morning your Lordship! I do agree with you, although you can build an employment or cultural 'model' of Sheffield according to certain biases. Call Centre city.....fairly easy to build a model for that, as is 'student city'.....but yes we do have a fairly good variety of employment categories here these days, increasing all the time.