George Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ is becoming a reality. Statistics from Q2 show job growth rates in many of the UK’s northern cities are soaring ahead of the south, indicating that promising changes are on the horizon.

Whilst London still held a 17.02% share of the nation’s 391,811 jobs last quarter, active job growth across the UK’s top cities paints a very different picture. Despite Edinburgh only attributing a 0.62% share of the UK’s jobs, it ranks first for job growth in Q2 and held this top position for 2 consecutive months during this period, coming second only to Liverpool in June 2015.

The UK’s top cities’ job growth in Q2 2015 were:

1. Edinburgh – 28.4% growth

2. Liverpool – 16.94% growth

3. Birmingham – 14.34% growth

4. London – 12.71% growth

5. Southampton – 10.74% growth

6. Manchester – 9.32% growth

7. Leeds – 8.73% growth

8. Glasgow – 8.08% growth

9. Newcastle – 5.13% growth

This evidence suggests that the Conservatives’ 5 year plan to close the job growth gap that separates the north and south of the country is beginning to take effect. However, the number of jobs available in the north, despite their growth, still have a way to go before they can compete with London’s current share, as seen below:

1. London – 17.02% of UK’s jobs Q2

2. Birmingham – 5.79% of UK’s jobs Q2

3. Manchester – 3.89% of UK’s jobs Q2

4. Leeds – 2.96% of UK’s jobs Q2

5. Southampton – 1.24% of UK’s jobs Q2

6. Liverpool – 1.22% of UK’s jobs Q2

7. Newcastle – 1.19% of UK’s jobs Q2

8. Glasgow – 0.79% of UK’s jobs Q2

9. Edinburgh – 0.62% of UK’s jobs Q2

Despite Edinburgh, Liverpool and Birmingham holding low positions of the UK job share, they rank in the top 3 in terms of job growth for Q2 2015.  In addition, London’s growth rate is slowing, suggesting that Cameron’s aims to increase job growth in the north and steady job growth in the south is working.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, comments that: “There is still a lot that needs to be done to achieve George Osborne’s vision, but it’s encouraging news to see such high job growth rates in the north so early on in the process. With planning projects of such a large scale, the recent news of infrastructure problems in the north and projected budget cuts aren’t surprising. However, our findings suggest that positive results will come from this scheme as we look to the future of job development in the UK.”

To complement the job growth figures of the UK’s top cities for Q2 2015, in June 2015, cities Liverpool, Edinburgh and Birmingham continued to remain in the top seated positions with job growth rates of over 50% respectively, all of which are ahead of the UK’s national average of 40.3% during this period.