THE economies of older industrial towns of the sort common in parts of Scotland are essentially stagnant according to a study which casts doubts on the benefits of the recovery from the last recession.

The report found growth in jobs in what it classed as Britain’s older industrial towns lagged well behind the rate recorded in the main regional cities and in London.

Based on an analysis of official figures, the report highlights the relative weakness of the labour market in older industrial towns.

It found unemployment may be much higher than first appears in many areas, amid “diversions” within the benefits system. Almost 830,000 adults of working age in the towns are out-of-work on incapacity benefits.

Co-authored by Professors Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill of Sheffield Hallam University, the report found pay and conditions in older industrial towns are often poor. Some 900,000 in-work households on low pay had to claim tax credits.

Older industrial towns are increasingly becoming dormitories for people who work elsewhere.

The report includes an area spanning Glasgow and four nearby local authorities in a list of six clusters featuring some of the highest unemployment rates.

It said: “These extensive areas could claim to be Britain’s main unemployment ‘blackspots’ and together with the neighbouring cities of Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow they are wholly made up of districts covering older industrial towns.”

The unemployment rate ran at 55 per cent in the Glasgow area, including people on incapacity benefit.

The authors found scant evidence London’s spectacular employment growth since 2010 had had a positive impact on the labour market in older industrial towns. They noted: “That net international migration into London and the South may have in effect ‘choked off’ the flow from other parts of the UK is at least consistent with earlier evidence.”

The report found 66 local authority areas in Great Britain included older industrial towns with an employment rate below the national average of 79% in the 2015-2017 period.

These include 11 in Scotland. East Ayrshire ranked second lowest jointly with an employment rate of 69%, against 67% for Hartlepool. The research was funded by the university and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.