Dealing with Auto Industry Rundown and Closures: a perspective from Birmingham Challenges facing Mono-Sectoral Cities, Open Days 2010

Dealing with Auto Industry Rundown and Closures: A Perspective from Birmingham Challenges facing Mono-Sectoral Cities, Open Days 2010

• David Bailey, Coventry University Business School, UK
• Caroline Chapain, CURS, Birmingham Business School, UK

Outline

• Introduction / background
• The MG Rover research project
• Surveys of workers and the spatial impact of plant closure
• Overview of workers in 2008-2009
• Training and policy support
• Different pathways, different stories
• Conclusions and policy recommendations

• WEST MIDLANDS LOCATION

Birmingham and West Midlands: traditionally the UK’s auto centre...

• One third of jobs in Birmingham in 1960s/1970s estimated to be auto related
• But high profile plant closures through 1970s and 1980s, most recent Jaguar (Coventry), MG Rover (Birmingham), Peugeot (Coventry), LDV (Birmingham), plus in related industries
• Next: another Jaguar Land Rover plant by 2015 ?
• BUT still an important industry in terms of supply chain and R&D