This is a simple and short post. All the discussions recently about how Greater Manchester is enhancing its joint working yet further compared to the slow but tentative progress on joint working in the West Midlands started me thinking – well how have these two powerhouses been doing in recent years. The graph below is a one off and shows GVA/head in nominal terms for these two economic motors.

These figures drawn from ONS sources show that Greater Manchester overtook the West Midlands (the metropolitan county) in 2004. Greater Manchester’s GVA/head increased from 1997-2012 by 69% as opposed to only 45% for the West Midlands.It must be stressed that these are nominal figures (ie haven’t been corrected for inflation) but they do indicate differing levels of performance of these economies and therefore the real need in the West Midlands to learn from elsewhere and pull together for all of our benefits. I wonder if a more detailed analysis has been undertaken elsewhere?