Huddersfield is an ethnically diverse town of 60,000 in Kirklees County with a reputation as a centre for literature and the arts. Formerly driven by a successful textile industry, the region is still supported by a large manufacturing base, which provides about 20% of the workforce with employment. Today, some of the top employers in Huddersfield's manufacturing industry include Hoyer UK, Cummins, and the David Brown Group. As with most of Great Britain, however, manufacturing has been in steady decline here since the 1990s and the local industry no longer dominates the job market. Instead, the public sector provides the majority of employment opportunities, and 37% of Huddersfield employees now work in education, public administration, and healthcare. Reflecting this fact, Kirklees Council, NHS and Primary Care Trust, and the University of Huddersfield are the region's top three employers.
Another 25% of the workforce is staff in the retail sector, which, along with the construction industry (8%), will soon be getting a boost from local regeneration projects. The rising banking and finance sector accounts for another 14% of jobs, and continues to grow steadily as the manufacturing base diminishes. But the local economy still has a long way to go: 6.7% of Huddersfield's workforce was unemployed in 2012, and median weekly income was a relatively low £431.2. But recruitment agencies are confident job opportunities will continue to multiply as the UK recovers from this recent recession.
