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The paper applies synthetic instruments, initially developed for cross-sectional regression, to estimate dynamic spatial panel data models. These have two main advantages. First, instruments correlated with endogenous variables and yet independent of the errors are difficult to find. Not only are synthetic instruments normally exogenous, but they are usually strongly correlated with endogenous variables, and thus help to avoid the problem of weak instruments. Secondly, they help to reduce instrumental variables proliferation, which is a common result of standard methods of avoiding endogeneity bias. As demonstrated by Monte Carlo simulation, instrument proliferation causes bias in the Sargan–Hansen J test statistic, which is an important indicator of instrument validity and hence estimation consistency. It is also associated with a downward bias in parameter standard error estimates. The paper shows the results of applying synthetic instruments across a variety of different specifications and data generating processes, and it illustrates the method with real data leading to more reliable inference of causal impacts on the level of employment across London districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing on Granovetter’s classic work on embeddedness in systems of social relations, this paper proposes the concept of ‘differentiated embedding’ to explore how migrants negotiate attachment and belonging as dynamic temporal, spatial and relational processes. When Poland joined the EU in May 2004, the large flow of migrants to the UK was perceived by many migration researchers as heralding a new form of transient mobility associated with short-term, temporary and circular migration, and high levels of transnationalism. Relatively little attention was paid to how these migrants were integrating in local contexts. Based on 20 in-depth interviews and network mapping with Polish migrants, resident in London for a decade, I examine why participants extended their stay and how their decisions were shaped by interpersonal relationships locally and transnationally. London as a ‘superdiverse’, global city offers place-specific opportunities for building networks and developing processes of embedding. Nonetheless, a focus on networks risks overlooking the wider structural context in which migrants live and work. Thus, I argue, there is a need for a differentiated concept to capture the nuanced interplay of structural, relational, spatial and temporal embedding. This concept not only captures multi-scalarity and multi-sectorality but also levels of belonging and attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is concerned with work and employment in the recording studio sector of the contemporary musical economy. More specifically, it aims to begin to address the lack of attention paid to the issue of individual subjectivity in the cultural workplace, through an empirically informed account of how the changing economic conditions in the recording studio sector are impacting on work as seen from the perspective of those working in the sector. The sector is one marked by a continued move towards more temporary and flexible forms of project working, as seen in the comparatively recent development of a freelance project-based model for recording. For record producers and studio engineers, these developments have impacted negatively on employment relations, working conditions and job security. Recent developments in digital technologies, which have resulted in a crisis of reproduction in the musical economy, have further heightened the importance of these issues. Drawing on qualitative interviews with record producers and engineers working in recording studios in London, the paper highlights how the rise of freelance work has resulted in a precarious work environment that has shifted the pressure of obtaining work, and the financial risk of not doing so, on to individual producers and engineers, and at the same time resulted in exhausting yet bulimic work regimes. Both for new and experienced producers and engineers, the sector is revealed as an increasingly difficult one in which to find and maintain gainful employment; for many, it is an increasingly exploitive one. Yet, the individuality afforded to producers and engineers by digital technologies, and the potential symbolic and financial rewards on offer to those who can successfully follow a career in music production, means that it remains an attractive and much sought-after career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the experiences of Kurdish workers in the UK and even less about how they attempt to resolve any difficulties or problems that arise at work. In part, this is due to academic oversight, but it is also because Kurdish workers are difficult to identify from statistical data and thus understanding of their labour market position is largely based on anecdotal information. The paper explores these workplace experiences, highlighting the complex relationship between employment, identity, community organisation and exile politics and how these intersect and affect the behaviour of Kurdish workers. The paper draws upon 61 interviews with workers from a variety of employment backgrounds to explore the experiences of workers from this ‘invisible’ community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a process evaluation that was conducted alongside a randomized controlled trial of out-of-home pre-school day care. The evaluation aimed to: (1) describe the intervention; (2) document the day care received by participating families; (3) describe the social context of the trial; and (4) provide data to assist in the interpretation of trial outcomes.The setting for the trial was an out-of-home day care Centre in Hackney, East London. Process data were collected through the use of questionnaires, interviews, and researcher field-notes. Data from questionnaires were collected from 120 mothers and included data on 143 children. Interviews were undertaken with 21 participating mothers. Staff also completed questionnaires and the Head of the Centre was interviewed. The quality of care provided was assessed using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale.Process data collected during the trial suggest that the day care provided was education-led, flexible in catering to families’ needs, and was of a very high quality. The social context of the trial resulted in financial pressures, which may well have influenced the intervention provided. Data collected through in-depth interviews suggested that it may be the flexibility of day care that is particularly important in allowing women to return to paid employment, but that the loss of benefits when starting work may have meant no increase in household income.The paper illustrates the value of conducting a process evaluation alongside a randomized trial, particularly where complex interventions are involved. In this case, where the intervention was not provided by the research team, the evaluation allowed an insight into the content of a multifaceted intervention, which is useful in interpreting the trial's results, and in explaining the possible effects of the social context on the intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In the urban resurgence accompanying the growth of the knowledge economy, second-order cities appear to be losing out to the principal city, especially where the latter is much larger and benefits from substantially greater agglomeration economies. The view that any city can make itself attractive to creative talent seems at odds with the idea of a country having just one 'escalator region' where the rate of career progression is much faster, especially for in-migrants. This paper takes the case of England, with its highly primate city-size distribution, and tests how its second-order cities (in size order, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Sheffield, Liverpool, Nottingham, and Leicester) compare with London as human-capital escalators. The analysis is based on the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Survey of linked census records for 1991-2001 and uses one key indicator of upward social mobility - the transition from White Collar Non-core to White Collar Core. For non-migrants, the transition rate for the second-order cities combined is found to fall well short of London's, but in one case - Manchester - the rate is significantly higher than the rest of the country outside the Greater South East. Those moving to the second-order cities during the decade experienced much stronger upward social mobility than their non-migrants, but this 'migrant premium' was generally similar to that for London, suggesting that it results from people moving only after they have secured a better job. Second-order cities, therefore, cannot rely on the speculative migration of talented people but need suitable jobs ready for them to access. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the social and spatial processes adopted by workers who face problems at work. Using interview data with minority ethnic workers in three local communities in London, the paper explores the mechanism people use to seek help and advice and what resources are available from local community organisations. Key findings suggest that many workers, both unionised and non-unionised find themselves isolated and unable to access the support they need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can a place be hardwired to support entrepreneurial activity more than somewhere else? Could the way the place is physically designed bring people together to share their ideas and work proactively to develop new businesses and work towards social change? Would this make a place inherently more prosperous? If this was the case, then urban design could have an as yet unrecognised economic value. This paper presents research into how urban design can affect a community's ability to act entrepreneurially, investigated through an empirical analysis of the 155 district centres of Greater London. Using self-employment as a proxy for entrepreneurial activity, the analysis tests a potential relationship between self-employment and the spatial configuration of each centre. The research finds that while income shows the strongest relationship with self-employment, in certain low-income neighbourhoods spatial configuration becomes important. The paper concludes that places that provide the most variety, density and proximity can enable diverse face-to-face interaction in the public realm and overcome the barriers to entrepreneurship that are inherent in neighbourhoods of multiple deprivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remittances are an important strand in the relationship between migration and socio-economic change in migrants' countries of origin and there is growing interest in their role in conflict and post-conflict countries. Yet little is known about remittances from the diaspora perspective, and much less about refugees remitting. This paper makes three contributions, based on analysis of survey and ethnographic evidence on the remittance experiences of Somali refugees in London. First, it argues that the diaspora perspective is a critical element in understanding remittance processes, and that remitting can have substantial repercussions for migrants. Second, it argues that, just as migrants are not 'just labour', remittances are not 'just money', pointing to the importance of analysing the social texture of the remittance process. Third, it argues that the nature of forced migration may shape remitting in ways which merit further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of legacy is important to the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. This paper examines the opportunities offered by the 2012 Games for a 'welcome' legacy in the context of the labour market, briefly outlining three aspects that need to be understood if any labour market legacy is to be secured: -- The scale and nature of the employment opportunities likely to be generated by the 2012 Games. -- The labour market contexts within which these opportunities will arise, with reference not only to the '5 Host Boroughs' of East London where most 2012 Olympic and Paralympic events will take place but also to the Borough of Weymouth and Portland which will host the sailing events. -- The type of intervention that is likely to help link 2012-related jobs with local labour markets, with reference to case studies of relevant practices elsewhere in the UK. The paper assesses the importance of filling 2012-related job vacancies alongside addressing wider labour market issues. On the one hand, this means understanding the labour market context as it is today, to enable public sector agencies to pool their resources and converge around a once-in-a-generation event, and tackle existing labour market issues. On the other hand, this means equipping people with the skills that they and the wider economy will require in the future. Therefore, it is important to view the 2012 Games not as an end in themselves, but as a unique opportunity to take forward broader labour market aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates the need to anticipate employers' future skills requirements, and shows how London Skills Forecasting Unit is addressing this problem. The paper first suggests that employers require advice and labour market intelligence in order to determine their skill requirements effectively, and to ensure their future competitiveness. It then shows that educational and training institutions also need to anticipate employers' requirements, and so supply side institutions also need to anticipate employers' skills demand Finally, some theoretical evidence for skills forecasting is presented together with some practical developments of forecasting techniques undertaken by the Unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents estimates of an equilibrium-based dynamic adjustment model of the office market, using supply and demand relationships to link construction, absorption, vacancies and rents to employment growth and real interest rates. The model is estimated using data from the City of London office market over 1977-1996. The model tracks the market dynamically, and the severe 1985-1996 cycle is shown to be related to the cycle in employment growth and the movement of real interest rates. The latter directly affects both construction and real rent levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally the suburbs have been viewed as secondary products of urbanization, as the necessary consequence of growth emanating from the centre, which has required housing on the outskirts and commuting back in for employment and high-end consumption. But it is increasingly necessary to rethink this approach and to consider the implications of positioning the suburbs themselves as more central to processes of urban development and to defining the lived urban experience. Here, some of those implications are explored with the help of evidence drawn from research conducted on the edge of the London city region, or what has been called the Greater South East. The paper highlights some of the uncertainties and ambiguities associated with the new suburbia, as well as charting the way in which it has been incorporated into the wider politics of growth, as a subject of urban policy. It concludes by emphasizing the need to acknowledge the importance of the suburbs as a central, rather than peripheral or secondary, aspect of contemporary urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on research with Vietnamese businesses in London which seeks to challenge some of the traditional views of transnational entrepreneurship. These have focused primarily on entrepreneurs embedded in both home and host countries and the need for regular travel between the two to manage the business. In contrast, this study suggests that transnational entrepreneurship today is more fluid than previous studies have suggested and is often characterised by multi-polar (rather than bipolar) links. Travel is also less relevant in the current age of ‘super-connectivity’. The research explores how Vietnamese entrepreneurs in London draw on various forms of transnational capital to further the development of their business, and develops a framework to measure the degree and extent of the transnational embeddedness and dependency of the business. The results suggest that transnational entrepreneurship amongst ethnic minority entrepreneurs today is better viewed as a continuum rather than a set of discrete business types. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we examine the contradictory migration experiences of Indian youth who recently moved to Britain on a student or temporary work visa and discuss the perspectives of their middle-class families in Gujarat. Like many young people in developing countries, our informants dreamed of going to the West to earn money and improve their prospects at home but ended up in low-status, semi-skilled jobs to cover their expenses, living in small guesthouses crammed with newly arrived migrants. Why did these young people leave India and go to London and what do they get by moving abroad? Based on research in London and Gujarat, our findings show that the decision to migrate is shaped by a combination of individual and social motivations. These young people moved to London not only to earn money and gain new experiences but also to escape family pressures by living away from their parents. Their parents encourage them, though they are aware of the difficulties their children face in London. They regard the migration as a requisite precautionary strategy to maintain their status as middle-class families in India, thereby safeguarding the next generation's future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines how the globalized nature of London's service sector redefines spatial relationships for recent migrants working in the health and hospitality industries. Findings from the qualitative data demonstrate that recent temporary migrants to the UK employ broader strategies to secure employment than accounted for by current theories. The migrants in our case studies overwhelmingly utilized global and local recruitment and employment agencies, as well as sought employment in industries already established as ‘ethnic economies’. We suggest that this might be attributed to a lack of interaction with established co-ethnic immigrant communities; temporary migration trajectories; and living arrangements with co-migrants. We conclude by emphasizing the need to broaden our understanding of ethnic economies and social networks in light of these changing spatial relationships that have emerged through the globalization of the service sector in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If women in London in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries sought the perfect crime in which to participate, selecting receiving stolen goods provided excellent opportunities for profit and little chance of punishment. Low conviction rates, combined with the fact that no behaviour outside of gendered expectations was required in its commission, made dealing in stolen goods relatively easy for women in the metropolis. Although this particular offence has not been deeply analysed by historians of crime, its commission did alarm contemporaries, including members of the legal community and social commentators. This paper explores accusations against females in London for receiving, as well as the important roles that familial relationships and work played in their indictments for the crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed qualitative data are used to explore the processes perpetuating labour market disadvantage among young UK-Bangladeshi men living in central London. Strong forces of inclusion within the Bangladeshi community are found to interact with forces of exclusion from 'mainstream' society to constrain aspirations and limit opportunities. Though diverse forms of young Bangladeshi masculinity are found, a common pattern is heavy dependency on intra-ethnic networks. Negative experiences of and isolation from 'mainstream' society further reinforce reliance on 'our own people'. However, acute ambivalence towards belonging to a dense Bangladeshi community exists, exemplified in the widespread denigration of the restaurant trade. Many respondents express the desire to 'break out' and access new experiences. The findings support current policy emphasis on 'connecting people to work' but highlight the more fundamental need to connect people across ethnic boundaries. The paper urges researchers to 'unpack' ethnicity - to consider carefully what ethnic identity implies in terms of access to resources and opportunities for different individuals in different contexts - in order better to understand the diversity of labour market outcomes and the persistence of disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the relationships between class and gender in the context of current debates about economic change in Greater London. It is a common contention of the global city thesis that new patterns of inequality and class polafisation are apparent as the expansion of high-status employment brings in its wake rising employment in low-status, poorly paid ‘servicing’ occupations. Whereas urban theorists tend to ignore gender divisions, feminist scholars have argued that new class and income inequalities are opening up between women as growing numbers of highly credentialised women enter full-time, permanent employment and others are restricted to casualised, low-paid work. However, it is also argued that working women's interests coincide because of their continued responsibility for domestic obligations and still-evident gender discrimination in the labour market. In this paper we counterpose these debates, assessing the consequences for income inequality, for patterns of childcare and for work-life balance policies of rising rates of labour-market participation among women in Greater London. We conclude by outlining a new research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second of two papers (Paper I, Geogrl J. 157(1)) the motive forces driving current development of the Central London economy are set against possible constraints on its ability to grow in the future. It is concluded that, while growth in finance and business service activity which has been the prime dynamic force within the local economy over the recent past is likely to continue, the rate of this growth depends crucially on London maintaining its position as an international financial centre in the face of competition from other European cities. Labour shortages arising from the demographic structure of its population are identified as a source of difficulty but one that can be moderated by the smooth timing of growth and an effective rail system. It is clear, however, that investment in new rail facilities will be hampered if their financing is related too closely to current revenues which are exposed to short-run variations in property values rather than to the pursuit of a longer term strategy for the development of Central London. It is argued that such a long-term strategy might include the encouragement of less essential employment to move away from Central London in order to allow greater investment in road, rail and air connections outside the central area to improve London's international accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the Layfield report on Greater London Development Plan, plan that requires local authorities to state their objectives, present alternative strategies for their future development and evaluate the alternative strategies for their future development. Begun when the Greater London Council (GLC) was formed, its origins ante-dated the 1968 Town and Country Planning Act. GLDP is an attempt to define planning objectives and to evaluate a plan for London, England it was backed by many research papers and studies and it was subjected to detailed examination by inquiry. Named the Layfield Inquiry after its chairman, the GLDP was the largest planning inquiry held in the country. The Inquiry accused the GLC of over-ambition for trying to argue as if it could alter population and employment trends when it had neither the statutory powers, nor the real power to do so; variable quality in the treatment of issues--so that, for example, it took much more seriously highway planning where it had responsibility than public transport where it had not (until it took over London Transport in 1970); no logical connection between facts and policies, or between objectives and policies; and describing objectives so vaguely that they were not operational.

This paper critically explores the Westminster coalition government's efforts to assist disabled people off benefits and into paid employment, focusing on the ongoing migration of Incapacity Benefit claimants onto Employment and Support Allowance. Drawing on the social model of disability, it is argued that the current reform agenda individualises the problem of disability; placing too much emphasis on disabled people's employability while neglecting broader societal barriers to their full and equal labour market participation. Given these shortcomings, it seems unlikely that the Coalition's approach will help disabled people to make the transition from welfare-to-work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper arises from research, funded by the Housing Corporation and the Thomas Pocklington Trust, which investigated the housing needs and priorities of visually impaired people of working age, a population that has received little public policy attention. We report on the housing circumstances and aspirations of 121 people living in London. In-depth study discovered that people of working age who have vision impairment can be disadvantaged by inflexible procedures that adversely affect their transition to independence, as well as their self-determination with respect to family issues. The study also learned that this population has particular needs in relation to domestic and outside space, home location and safety and security measures. Furthermore, the interviewees indicated that specialist supported housing may develop a stronger role if it diversifies and provides non-institutional stepping stones towards greater autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the location patterns of manufacturing plants in Greater London, England. The London conurbation represented the most dynamic growth area of interwar Britain, accounting for almost 35 per cent of national population growth compared with only 17.5 percent during the decade to 1911. This was accompanied by a relative employment shift in favor of manufacturing, which increased its share of total employment in London and Middlesex from 30.2 to 31.4 percent between 1911 and 1931, while the national ratio had declined from 33.5 to 32.5 percent. Meanwhile, London's cultural and social facilities also proved important in attracting particular types of valuable labor, such as management, technical, and scientific staff. This was especially important with regard to overseas-based multinationals, whose staff showed a strong preference for London both on account of its general cosmopolitan culture and because of the presence of expatriate communities. The capital's highly developed business and financial services sector also constituted a strong attraction to firms, allowing them to outsource some activities that might be done internally and facilitating access to services generally provided externally, such as advertising and banking.

The author introduces the issue by noting the architectural subject matter of the papers included. He notes that papers by Nick Cox and Emily Gee address boathouses and late 19th-century women's hostels, respectively, and that neither style had received much past attention. The hostels are said to have been constructed for single women who were seeking employment in London, England and other cities. He adds that the other papers are more technical and address fire effects on stone, marble conservation and repair, and cantilevered staircases built of stone.

The attainment in national examinations and progress of pupils to the age of 16 in London is the highest in England. Nevertheless, there is still a significant number of 16- to 19-year-olds who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Those who are the most vulnerable to becoming NEET are the young people who have disengaged from mainstream education. This article draws on a comprehensive examination of the effectiveness of an alternative education provision (AEP) for pupils who were disengaged from mainstream schools in one London local authority. Through the application of Bronfenbrenner's ecosystems theory, the study explored the impact of different ecosystems on young people's disengagement. The findings in evaluation studies of other AEPs and the findings in this study indicate that AEPs - and the curriculum, pedagogy, and pastoral care that they offer - can, and do, make a considerable difference to the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children, as well as offering insights for mainstream education. Thus, the study contributes to the current debate on the organization and structure of the 14-19 education system in England under raising the participation age (RPA) to 18, the new legislation that came into force this academic year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the preliminary report of the Central Body concerning employment in London, England as of June 1907. The chief of the Labor Colonies are Hollesley and Fambridge. The work at Fambridge consisted of reclaiming the flooded land and repairing the sea-wall, and it lasted from February 1906 to July 1907. The average number of men employed was 150. Hollesley Bay is primarily an agricultural training college, but the men are also trained in building construction and estate repairs. The usual term are 16 weeks, but a few selected men who have shown a special aptitude for country life were kept longer and given a training that would fit them to become small holders, it being then understood by the committee that a suitable scheme for the provision of small holdings for the selected men could be put into operation. Owing to an adverse decision of the Local Government Board, this was found to be impossible. Attempts to secure situations in the country were unsuccessful and some of the men who had become thoroughly discouraged at having the hopes which had been raised in their minds with respect to settlement on the land defeated, returned to town.

The impact of the UK Coalition government's cuts has catastrophically impacted advisory and support services to refugee young people. Many bespoke refugee services have ceased with the alternative being conventional information sources that lack specialist knowledge of the unique situation of refugees. Taking an autonomy approach, this qualitative research study discusses the benefits of the now obsolete refugee advisory service, the Refugee Integration and Employment Service, with current sources of welfare-to-work programmes. In conclusion, it argues that without targeted sources of information, advice and support refugee young people will struggle to make informed strategic decisions about their future careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the restaurant offers a useful site for mapping patterns of transnational and global exchange within late Victorian and Edwardian London. The dramatic expansion of public eating in this period was met in part by foreign-born entrepreneurs, and wait and kitchen staff drawn from a genuinely international labour market. Londoners and visitors to the metropolis were exposed to a variety of new, often hybrid, culinary cultures, which call into question simplistic binaries between Britain and the world beyond. The simultaneous presence in London's restaurant scene of French menus, Indian dishes, Italian cooks, German waiters, and Chinese and American diners reveals the complexity of the relationship between populations and places. London's ‘gastro-cosmopolitan’ culture reveals not merely the extent to which Britain's imperial metropolis was exposed to transnational forces, but that these influences were genuinely global and not confined to Britain's formal empire. London's cosmopolitan dining culture suggests that historians might be advised to move beyond the tropes of danger and anxiety when discussing late nineteenth-century London, and do more to acknowledge a range of responses – attraction and pleasure included – which more accurately reflected the metropolitan experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

the article states that four of London's hospitals and the University College London have united to form Europe's largest Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC). The partnership is known as UCL Partners and will employ thousands of scientists, medical consultants and senior researchers. Quotes from Chad Whitehead, the London partner of Ernst and Young, are presented.

This article draws on a study of the experiences of (primarily non-unionized) minority ethnic workers in seeking advice and support for employment problems in the context of the de-collectivization of employment relations in Britain. It focuses on one of the main recourses identified in the research, the Citizens Advice Bureau, its relationship with community organizations and with trade unions. Workers’ testimonies about their experiences of help with workplace grievances are supplemented with views of advice providers, community-based organizations and trade unionists. Findings illuminate the specific experiences of minority ethnic workers, as well as similarities with majority ethnic non-unionized workers and highlight the paucity of individual employment advice and a growing crisis for workers’ rights with the decline in collective union representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With London about to host the world's nations in a bacchanalian celebration of sport, 'Brit' power, brand, and all things Olympic, it is perhaps easy to be distracted from the Games' more sober legacy. The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 -- the body tasked with independently assuring the sustainability of the 2012 programme and legacy -- has taken a detailed look at what London will be left with once the party is over. The question on everyone's lips is whether the 2012 programme will have fulfilled its key objective to transform East London. The authors shed light on progress and the Commission's proposal for the Lea Valley to 2042.1 They highlight that the physical legacy is second-to-none and the socio-economic gains to date are also ground-breaking for an Olympic Games. However, several key objectives have missed the mark, including waste infrastructure and renewable energy, and on sports participation. The authors point out that making a difference in the longer term requires optimising the significant opportunity that the project has provided to extend the social, environmental and economic regeneration throughout the length of the Lea Valley, drawing on deep, sustainable city-systems approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an examination of the patterns and motivations behind parish apprenticeship in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century London. It stresses continuity in outlook from parish officials binding children, which involved placements in both the traditional and industrializing sectors of the economy. Evidence on the ages, employment types, and locations of 3,285 pauper apprentices bound from different parts of London between 1767 and 1833 indicates a variety of local patterns. The analysis reveals a pattern of youthful age at binding, a range of employment experiences, and parish-specific links to particular trades and manufactures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier estimates of the behavior of the City of London office market are extended by considering a longer time series of data, covering two full cycles, and by explicitly modeling asymmetric space market responses to employment and supply shocks. A long run structural model linking real rental levels, office-based employment and the supply of office space is estimated and then rental adjustment processes are modeled using an error correction model framework. Rental adjustment is seen to be asymmetric, depending both on the direction of the supply and demand shocks and on the state of the space market at the time of the shock. Vacancy adjustment does not display statistically significant asymmetries. There is also a supply adjustment equation. Two three-equation systems, one with symmetric rental adjustment and the other with asymmetric adjustment, are subjected to positive and negative shocks to employment. These illustrate differences in the properties of the two systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most people with severe mental illness are not in paid employment. The cost is high, economically and in terms of social exclusion. Aim: To investigate the number of weekly hours that such people want to be in competitive paid employment and the reasons why. Methods: Baseline clinical and demographic data were analysed for 219 people with severe mental illness participating in an RCT of supported employment in London, England. Results: Self-esteem, quality of life, symptom severity and general level of functioning did not largely explain wanting part or full-time work. The latter was significantly associated with having more unmet needs (p = 0.01) and not receiving Incapacity Benefit and/or Income Support (p = 0.04). However, 31% (55/178) of those receiving these benefits did want full-time work, desiring a significantly higher rate of pay than those wanting to work up to 16 hours or 17 to 34 hours per week (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: A sizeable proportion of people with severe mental illness would consider working full-time, potentially overcoming the benefits trap in achieving this. This is contrary to the commonly held belief that such clients only want part-time work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research into the persistence of the population of the Kingston upon Thames community in London, England. Census enumerators' books (CEBs) were used to provide information on residents of Kingston who remained in the community. Census data revealed that the population of Kingston increased between 1851 and 1891, possibly due to railway travel and the desire for suburban life. Residents were categorized by social class and type of profession. The author suggests an increase in female persisters may be due to domestic service employment in the area. The majority of persisters were born in the community and tended to be from the working class. Residential mobility in Kingston persisters is noted.

Objectives To examine the social and economic circumstances of people living with HIV in London. Methods Between June 2004 and June 2005, 1687 people living with HIV (73% response) receiving treatment and care in north-east London National Health Service out-patient clinics completed a confidential, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire sought information on employment, income, education, residency status in the UK and housing. Results In total, 1604 respondents were included in the analysis: Black African heterosexual women ( n=480) and men (224); White (646) and ethnic minority (i.e. non-White) homosexual men (112); White heterosexual men (64) and women (39); and Black Caribbean heterosexual women (26) and men (13). Black African heterosexual men and women consistently reported more difficulties than any other group in relation to employment, income, housing and residency status. Half the Black African heterosexual men (46.8%) and women (51.2%) reported insecure residency status in the UK, significantly more than any other group ( P<0.001). Just under half the respondents (46.6%) were employed at the time of the survey; Black African heterosexual women (35.3%) and men (45.4%) were less likely to be employed than White (57.6%) or ethnic minority (53.7%) homosexual men ( P<0.001). Forty per cent of Black African heterosexual men and women, 22.9% of ethnic minority homosexual men and 9.6% of White homosexual men did not have enough money to cover their basic needs ( P<0.001). Conclusions In this study of people living with HIV in London, a substantial number faced social and economic hardship, particularly Black African and other ethnic minority respondents. Our findings provide further evidence that in London HIV is associated with poverty, particularly among migrant and ethnic minority populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents economic outlook for London, England as of May 2007. Real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase by a further 3.6 percent this year on top of an estimated 4.4 percent in 2006. Increasing global demand for financial services and London's position as the most global of world cities reinforce a forecast of continuing strong economic growth for the city. Tables are presented that show detailed forecasts for employment sector by sector.

It is often assumed that future urban employment will be increasingly dependent on the knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). This underpins much of the current thinking about the development of the English “core cites.” Their example is employed to examine the more general validity of such assumptions, in terms of five critical questions to which research offers only partial and indefinite answers. For any city, how far are these activities really “knowledge intensive”? What markets do they serve? Is their future growth certain? And even when this is the case, how can they make a long-term contribution to local urban economic success? Finally, how far do urban economic institutions and policies need to be adapted to foster knowledge-based activities such as KIBS? It seems that, despite the growth of measured KIBS employment, most of the core cities possess few truly knowledge-intensive KIBS, capable of serving national and international business markets, competitively adapting to future change, and adding to the competitiveness of the wider urban economy. Nationally such activities remain focused into the London region where, if anything, they have increased their concentration is recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the experiences of a small group of agency care managers ( n = 23) working in London and the north of England. It was discovered that employment for occupationally migrant care managers can provide access to a potentially rich source of knowledge and skills, as well as a diverse and sometimes stimulating form of irregular employment. However, it was also discovered that work intensification, job insecurity and limited time spent with users and carers were common, and this further intensified the deskilling and lack of discretion which is common for many care managers. It is concluded that the increase in agencies that supply care managers to social services departments (among other sectors of social care) is further evidence of the ongoing privatisation of state social work and there are important implications for social workers, users and their informal carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an empirical study of teleworking practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in west London, organisational factors such as management attitudes, worker autonomy and employment flexibility were found to be more critical than technological provision in facilitating successful implementation. Consequently, we argue that telework in most SMEs appears as a marginal activity performed mainly by managers and specialist mobile workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment (formerly industrial) tribunals have been with us for 35 years, during which time what they are asked by Parliament to do and the public's expectation of them (but not the resources put at their disposal to do it) have grown exponentially. The change of name as a result of section 1 of the Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) Act 1998 is arguably the single greatest mark which that much-discussed and much-heralded piece of legislation will leave on the system. It was the product of supposed public dissatisfaction with the performance of the tribunal, almost all of which, it is submitted, stemmed from two basic failures: to distinguish between what was happening in London and what was happening elsewhere and to recognise the almost unbridgeable chasm between the tribunal's current role and its origins, compounded by an imperfect understanding of the latter. This article, by a long serving tribunal advocate and member of its judiciary, seeks to explore those origins and as a result make some sense of the criticisms and misunderstandings and put the tribunal's current role and performance into its proper context. Along the way, in recognition that nothing is perfect, some suggestions for genuine improvement are humbly offered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The evidence on human resource management in overseas offices of Japanese multinational service-sector firms is far less abundant than that for manufacturing firms. Existing studies describe employment practices that vary, both between firrns and over time. To supplement the existing body of evidence, the present study investigates employment practices at two Japanese financial services firms in the City of London through the use of interviews and questionnaire surveys. It focuses on those facets of the 'Japanese' management system that may be considered fundamental characteristics: recruitment and selection procedures, training methods, pay and promotion policies, employment security, company culture, and the position of workers within the overall organization. The study considers the implications of changes over time within the two firms when viewed in the context of the existing evidence; such comparison suggests that both corporate strategy and human resource management policy in Japanese financial organizations may have changed during the 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to analyse the data available from the 1981 Census of Employment to find out what has been happening to the spatial division of labour in London, England. Although it is not typical of other cities London is interesting in its own right both from the point of view of its large size and because it is the location of so many of the control centres of the nation's economy. Analyses by economists have been made of the net employment changes taking place in the cores and rings of British cities. They have shown that the general trends in the big cities changed around the beginning of the 1960s. During the 1950s employment in the cores of the million cities grew by 3.1% and in the rings by 8.9%. In contrast to this growth, employment in the cores started to decline in the first half of the 1960s by 3.2% and this rate of decline accelerated to 7.4% in the second half of the decade. In 1966-1971 the general trends in the urban cores were for manufacturing and distributive trades to decline while high-level services grew but not by as much as the other types of employment declined. A somewhat different picture emerges in the late 1970s in London. Even in the high job density areas total employment continued to decline although at a slower rate than in the rest of the urban core.

The article discusses the features of class struggles in the docklands area of London, England during in the 1970s. Docklands is also unattractive to modern monopoly industrial capital in terms of its problems of access, high rents and rate levels cramped sites and uncompetitive regional investment incentives. The decline of port employment was a particular example of the industrial nationalization process at work. The docks were an obvious focus for local action to oppose the deindustrialization of the area.

Traces patterns of poor women's employment in late-nineteenth century London. Comments about employment among single, married and widowed women; Pleasant Place in London in 1881 and information about one family in the census records; The determinants of women's employment.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century London was no longer the only centre for the wholesale manufacture of boots and shoes. By that time the production of ready-made footwear had developed at Northampton and more recently at Stafford, Kettering, Wellingborough, and Daventry, where in each case it was conducted by one or two enterprises. The rise of wholesale manufacturing was not accompanied by the appearance of typically large enterprises but a handful of firms each employed several hundred people in 1851, the majority of whom were outworkers.' Improvements in communications and greater urbanization explain the growth of certain centres where boot and shoe production became localized, as an expanding market encouraged specialization of function and by region. In the middle fifties there were signs that some classes of workers were becoming scarce, and this fact, taken together with a strike for higher piece rates and the subsequent introduction of closing machinery, fiercely resisted by shoemakers in Northampton and Stafford, suggested that the character and chronology of the first phase of mechanization in the footwear industry can be explained: by labor shortage, a situation which was beginning to affect other sectors of the economy in the 1850's.

This article focuses on the influence of the Irish upon London, England, waterside unionism in the late nineteenth century. Evidences show that although in one London district of the union there was a strong Irish presence, in most metropolitan districts of the union it was weak. Thus the secretary of the West India Dock branch commented in 1891 that the Irish were dying out of the dock. Both the South Side Labour Protection League and the Stevedores' Union of London, suggestively, seem to have contained a significant proportion of Irish, most of them probably being London born. By the 1890s then it appears that the Irish were not dispersed evenly over the field of waterfront employment, but rather that they were concentrated in certain sectors of the port. In the middle of the century the Irish were scattered throughout the port and their concentration in certain spheres of employment in the 1890s obviously represents a significant development. The concentration of Irish waterfront workers was in all probability related to their position as migrants. The Irish on the London waterfront were therefore a closely-knit group, or rather a series of closely-knit groups, each associated with a certain sphere of employment. The so-called "New Unionism" as represented by the Dockers' Union largely bypassed these groups.