A new Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) study has revealed that the financial and professional services sector has experienced the single biggest growth in North-West employment in the past decade.

The report, called The Changing Professions in the North West of England, shows that last year 428,800 people were employed in this sector in the region – up from 315,200 in 1997.

This jump accounts for 23% of overall growth in the region’s top 10 employment growth sectors, ahead of education and life sciences ranked as the second and third fastest growing. And the financial and professional services’ dominance of the North-West’s employment scene is set to increase with almost a third of people predicted to be working in related professions by 2020.

As well as highlighting the shift away from traditional manufacturing industries, the report demonstrates how MMU is supporting growth in the region’s emerging sectors through postgraduate and continuing professional development courses, business partnerships, research and consultancy.