Economic Change - Birmingham Region

Question 1

What is the population of Birmingham?

Answer 1

1.1 million

Question 2

What proportion of British manufactured exports originate from Birmingham today?

Answer 2

25%

Question 3

How has the industrial history of Birmingham impacted housing in the city?

Answer 3

There are large areas of terraced housing previously built for workers, that have gone derelict since the factories shut down.

Question 4

How did the employment structure of Birmingham shift between 1978 and 2000?

Answer 4

• The proportion of workers in manufacturing jobs such as metals and manufactured goods declined substantially (Metal goods and vehicles declined from 28.4% of the work force to 5.8%)
• The proportion of workers in tertiary sectors, especially finance but also education, catering etc increased (e.g. finance and business services increased from 7.3% to 21.4% of the work force)

Question 5

What were some key factors that led to the industrial decline in the late 20th century in Birmingham?

Answer 5

• Competition from TNCs based in countries with lower production costs, e.g. China
• Foreign based TNCs, especially Japanese car manufacturers, began to influence the British car market, and their more reliable and better value cars took sales away from British car manufacturers based in Birmingham (e.g. Jaguar/ Land-rover)
  
  • None of these new car manufacturers invested in Birmingham
• Frequent strikes during the 1970s made Birmingham less attractive to investors.
• The oil crisis of 1973. The differing support in the Arab-Israeli war resulted in oil prices being used as a ‘weapon’, causing a tenfold increase in oil prices.

Question 6

What