4B.2C Measuring Change
Change can be measured using employment trends, demographic changes, land-use changes, and levels of deprivation (income deprivation, employment deprivation, health deprivation, crime, quality of the living environment, abandoned and derelict land)
Change can be measured using employment trends, demographic change and changes to deprivation levels. Population growth or decline is a key indicator of how economically successful places are.
- Middlesbrough's population was 146,000 in 1991, but had fallen to 138,400 by 2011, a decrease of more than 5%.
- Reading's population grew from 136,000 in 1991 to 155,000 in 2011.
Reading, and nearby Bracknell, had gained over 40,000 digital economy (industries like mobile technology, ICT, software design and app development) jobs by 2016, whereas in 2015 Middlesbrough was in the news for the closure of the Teeside Steelworks with the loss of 3200 direct and indirect jobs.
The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) attempts to quantify deprivation in England. It uses seven data domains which are weighted towards income and employment. The IMD is a very fine grained index because it spits England into nearly 33,000 small areas with abut 1500 people each.
- Income (large weight)
- Employment (large weight)
- Education (medium)
- Health (medium)
- Crime (less)
- Barriers to housing and services (less)
- Living environment (less)
Using the 2015 IMD data for 326 local council areas in England, Middlesbrough was the 7th most deprived area in England whereas Reading was the 147th, with less than half the level of deprivation in Middlesbrough.
(Reading's rank may seem a little high, but the very lowest levels of deprivation tend to be found in rural areas and commuter belt towns and villages in the South and South East.)
All large towns and cities have some degree of deprivation and Reading is no exception.