Historically, the economy of South Yorkshire revolved around the steel industry. Famed for the manufacture of cutlery and for engineering this was a major source of employment. Unfortunately, whilst remaining one of the country's main manufacturing centres, it no longer sustains such widespread employment, though today Sheffield is still known for providing steel, refractory products and machine tools, and for it's construction, brick making, and brewing activities. Mining was another mainstay of employment. However, throughout the nineties, as in the rest of the UK, the industry continued to decline dramatically.

Reflecting the general profile of the national economy, whilst the region's manufacturing sector may be in decline, the service sector is in the ascendancy. Aided by EU Objective 1 funding, much of the available workforce is finding employment in new fields. This is particularly evident in Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield where many people are employed in public services, health, education and the retail trade. The service sector now employs the highest percentage of the population at approximately 49.8 per cent followed by construction and distribution at 30.3 per cent and manufacturing at 19 per cent. Several major companies including BT Cellnet and Ikea have located call centres in the area.

Evidence of a return to stability can be found in figures released by Barclays in August 2002. Based on their eight million current account customers, the Hallam area of Sheffield was the only northern district to be named in a list of the top 20 most affluent areas in Britain. The report shows that 7.9 per cent of the inhabitants are in the high-earners bracket, earning more than £60,000 per year, thereby confirming Sheffield as a major urban centre, attracting many professionals.

After the collapse of the mining industry Doncaster began to focus on the rural aspects of the region. At Cadeby two former colliery sites have been transformed into the Earth Centre, the theme of which is sustainable development and the art of living on the earth without damaging it for the future and a number of other developments demonstrate how the region is recovering from industrial decline.

Don Valley, an area that became derelict during the eighties following the decline in the steel industry is now home to Meadowhall, Europe's largest shopping and leisure centre. During its first year of trading it is estimated that over 20 million people enjoyed its facilities. Next and H&M are just two of the major retailers relocating to flagship stores in the complex and the marked success of this centre has inspired the continued regeneration of the area.

Further development in this area comes in the shape of Doncaster Finningley Airport. In November 1999 the planning application to develop the former RAF airbase at Finningley into a commercial airport was submitted to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council. At just under 3000 metres the airport's runway will be the second longest in the North of England allowing services to popular destinations in the U.S., Caribbean and Far East as well as Europe. The proposal aims to cater for over 2 million passengers a year by 2014 and 62,000 tonnes of freight.

According to the developers, Peel Holdings, if approved the scheme will create 7,300 jobs by 2014 both on site and in the surrounding communities. Local people will be assisted by skills programmes in the task of finding work at the airport, and the project will create a number of business opportunities for local SMEs. Enhancing the regions central location, the project is also expected to have a positive impact on tourism and inward investment.

Environmental, economic and transport impact assessments were conducted as part of the application. However, local opposition to the project cites inadequate measures to deal with increased road traffic and unrealistic noise assessments as reasons for further enquiry. A decision on the proposal is expected in 2003.

The spring of 2000 saw the acquisition and refurbishment of the 25-acre Doncaster Industry Park by Langtree. The £5.8 million project was aided by a grant of more than £800,000 from English Partnerships' Investment Programme through Yorkshire Forward and with 75 per cent of its units let and over 235 jobs created in Doncaster has proven to be a considerable success. Langtree hope to repeat this success with the 28,000 sq. ft. Kirk Sandall Networkcentre scheme offering twelve speculatively built high quality industrial units ranging from 872 to 3,488 sq. ft.

Other projects include the development of waterfront property on the River Don to create a range of residential, office, hotel, entertainment and retail schemes. Work is underway and partners in the project include British Waterways, English Partnerships and Doncaster Metropolitan Burough Council (DMBC).

Rotherham and Sheffield are closely linked in a number of respects, most notably in terms of workforce. The most recent reliable commuting data produced by Yorkshire & Humber TEC showed that 14.1 per cent of people working in Rotherham are resident in Sheffield, while 31.4 percent of workers living in Rotherham work in Sheffield.

According to the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) Economic Initiatives Research Team, job creation in Rotherham in 2001 was strong. In keeping with regional and national trends, this was evidenced mainly in the services sector going some way to offset the employment and output problems currently suffered by the manufacturing sector. 2001 also saw employment successes in manufacturing, notably in the expanding automotive sector. In contrast to the national picture manufacturing remains the most important sector for Rotherham's economy accounting for 34 per cent of GDP, compared to 20.5 per cent nationally. In terms of VAT stock increase in between 1994 and 2001 the largest was in the business services sector with a 55 per cent increase. For the same period the finance sector saw a 25 per cent increase whilst the construction, wholesale & retail, and catering sectors saw the largest falls. Manufacturing fell by only 5 per cent, a smaller fall than the national figure.

As a two-year average, the ILO employment rate in Rotherham rose during 2001. In February 2002 it shows 70.1 per cent of those of working age in employment compared to 67.5 per cent in February 2001. At the national level, the employment rate stood at 74.9 per cent in 2002.

In terms of higher and further education, the region has a good national reputation and the University of Sheffield is one of the most popular universities in the country. According to the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) the standard of teaching is of a consistently high standard with many of the departments receiving an 'excellent' result. The Higher Education Funding Council has also assessed the quality of the research being undertaken by the University of Sheffield, jointly with its sister university Sheffield Hallam University, the results of which were announced in December 2001. With departments being judged on a scale of 1-5, 5 being excellent, 45 out of 48 submissions received a 4 or 5 rating. Nine of the programmes that received a 5 were awarded a 5*, this rating being reserved for outstanding research quality.

In September 2001, based on data supplied by the QAA, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa), the national funding councils and the universities themselves, the Sunday Times University Guide named the University of Sheffield "UK University of the Year". The universities are ranked according to teaching and research quality, A level grades achieved by entrants, percentage of first and 2:1 degrees awarded, staff/student ratios, graduate unemployment and dropout ratios. Both the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University work closely with the local business to assist in regional development. They offer a commercial research facility, training and graduate recruitment and also contribute to the social, economic, social and cultural life of the region. Hallam offers a business exchange giving businesses access to the University's research and consultancy resources and to assistance with training and product development.

Currently the universities have established two major initiatives that will directly affect the region. Proposals are being developed with Yorkshire Forward to establish an Advanced Manufacturing Park to house the Aerospace Manufacturing Research Centre, a centre based on the success of the University of Sheffield's considerable achievements in engineering and investment from the Boeing Company. Sheffield and Hallam are working hand in hand with Sheffield City Council to dramatically increase the number of high technology companies being spun out from the universities and locating in South Yorkshire.

South Yorkshire lies on the major North to South and East to West transport routes. The M1 lies to the east of Sheffield with a direct link between the centre and Junction 33. The A57 and the A616 link Sheffield to Manchester and the M18 links Sheffield and Doncaster.

The region is also within easy access of the Leeds/Bradford International airport and Sheffield City airport and ferry services from Hull to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Doncaster International Railport is one of two official channel tunnel terminals based in Yorkshire, the other being in Wakefield, giving access for freight from South Yorkshire through to Calais and the rest of mainland Europe.

Due to its central location, South Yorkshire has excellent rail links throughout the UK. There are two main rail lines, one linking Sheffield to Barnsley and the second linking Doncaster and Leeds via Rotherham. Sheffield Midland Station offers a direct London service to St. Pancras Station, running once an hour and taking just under 2 hours 20mins. There is also a regular service operating between Doncaster and King's Cross, running at least once an hour and taking approximately 1 hr 50 minutes.

As well as being England's 4th largest city Sheffield is also it's greenest with more woodland than any other city. It has more than 50 parks and over one third of its area lies within the Peak District National Park. Being the UK's first "National City of Sport" it enjoys some of the best sporting venues in the country. It also houses the largest theatre complex outside London comprising of the Lyceum, Crucible and Studio theatres. Following the World Student Games, held in Sheffield in 1991, a number of excellent facilities were made available to the local region, including a 25,000 seater athletics stadium and a 10,000 seater arena and exhibition centre.

According to the Halifax House Price Index house prices in South Yorkshire have increased by 18 per cent over the past year, taking the average in the county from £67, 512 in the third quarter of 2001 to £79,909 in 2002. Doncaster has seen the biggest gains of all the major towns and cities in South Yorkshire with a rise in the average price of 28 per cent, prices in Sheffield have risen 17 per cent whilst the average price in both Barnsley and Rotherham has risen by 15 per cent. However, despite the bigger gain in prices in Doncaster, property prices remain highest in Sheffield. All these prices are still well below the UK average.