London Job Market

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North and Central London

Camden has the second highest number of businesses in London after Westminster and the third highest in the UK. Local jobs are mostly high-skilled roles and two third of them are concentrated in the central London portion of Camden, to the south of Euston Road; a quarter of jobs are located in the central Camden Town, Euston, Regent’s Park and Somers Town areas; while the remainder of Camden’s jobs (16%) are scattered across town centres and employment sites in north and west Camden, including Hampstead, Kentish Town and Swiss Cottage.

Camden is renowned for its street markets, music venues, museums, theatres, London Zoo, Regent’s Park and 681 acres of Hampstead Heath. It is also home to the Knowledge Quarter, an emerging Innovation District across King’s Cross and Euston with a cluster of higher education and research institutes and headquarters of global companies such as Google and pharmaceutical firm MSD. The borough counts 11 universities and higher education institutions and has the largest student population in London. 

Professional, scientific & technical services is the largest industry sector in Camden; it makes up 22% of employment (more than twice the national average). The sector includes law firms, management consultancies, architectural and engineering practices, and organisations specialised in scientific research, marketing and advertising.
The borough also has a very strong ICT sector, which accounts for 12.5% of employment, more than twice the national average. Camden has the second largest number of employee jobs in film and TV production and music publishing of all London’s boroughs (12,000 jobs). Employment in this industry is sevenfold the British average.
In years to come, the redevelopment of Euston station on the HS2 line will regenerate the area and could supercharge the growth of the life sciences and tech businesses based in and around Euston in London’s Knowledge Quarter.

The City of London is the business district right at the centre of London. It’s often referred to as the Square Mile. Over 615,000 people worked here in 2022. Employment is highly concentrated in banking and finance, and in professional services including law, management consultancy and accountancy.The City is home to one of the youngest, most highly skilled and international workforces of the country.

Enfield is London’s most northern borough bordering Hertfordshire and Essex. Its most populated areas include Edmonton, Enfield, Southgate and Palmers Green. Local jobs are mostly found in retail and wholesale, and the public sector – especially healthcare and education. Other relatively important employment sectors include construction and logistics, which both account for a larger share of jobs than national average. Enfield Council is the largest employer in the borough. Other large employers include food retailers and logistics companies.

Employment in Haringey is strongly concentrated in retail, health and social care, education, hospitality services and business administration. The borough has six town centres, Wood Green being the largest. Haringey’s primary assets are its location and great transport links. The borough benefits from its close proximity to Kings Cross – just 10 mins away – the City and West End – both 30 mins away. Haringey has been named London Borough of Culture 2027 which will create local opportunities in arts, leisure and recreation with community organisations and cultural spaces in the borough including Alexandra Palace, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Jacksons Lane and Bruce Castle Museum. The council expects working with around 600 local artists and partners.

Islington is located in the heart of London, adjacent to the City and close to the West End and Holborn. The borough has a thriving economy with a high density of jobs. Largest employment sectors are professional, scientific & technical services (22%), ICT (18% of employee jobs which is four times the national average), administration and business support (13%). Islington’s retail and dining sectors have been resilient with high footfall supported by a well-connected transport network and Angel Central shopping centre. Islington has many restaurants, pubs, theatres, museums, cinemas and galleries. It is home to Upper Street shopping, Arsenal Football Club, Sadler’s Wells and two London universities. Historical areas such as Clerkenwell and Barnsbury reflect the borough’s past, while Silicon Roundabout is at the forefront of the UK’s new technology and creative industries.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea benefits from a strong visitor economy, a large arts and entertainment sector with world class institutions and cultural attractions, and a comprehensive retail and hospitality offer. The borough is home to many art galleries and to London’s museum quarter with famous attractions including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, V&A and the Design Museum. Large annual events such as the Chelsea Flower Show and the Notting Hill Carnival support the local economy. The borough has an extensive retail and hospitality industry. Nearly half of visitor spend is in shopping districts such as Portobello Road, Knightsbridge, Kings Road and small boutiques. The borough is also home to clusters of embassies, real estate agencies and head offices. Largest employment sectors include retail, hospitality, healthcare and professional, scientific and technical services.

Southwark is home to London Bridge Station, the Shard, Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Borough Market. Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Imperial War Museum are also within the borough. Southwark’s economy is growing faster than the rest of London driven by strong growth in business services, ICT and professional, scientific & technical services, which are its largest employment sectors. Biggest employers in the borough include Southwark Council, Guy’s Hospital, King’s College London, Great Portland Estates, Landsec and the Hyde Group.

Wandsworth has a rich industrial history but nowadays manufacturing only accounts for a small proportion of local jobs (less than 2%). The borough benefits from a diverse economy. The largest employment sector by far is health and social care (1 in 5 employee jobs). Other leading industries encompass professional, scientific and technical services, retail and wholesale, hospitality, administration and business support services, and education.

Wandsworth is home to Clapham Junction railway station, the country’s busiest station and to a broad mix of commercial activity including shops, restaurants and pubs as well as leisure and cultural centres such as Battersea Arts Centre and a wide range of community facilities, schools, universities and hospitals that all play a significant role in providing local employment. The borough’s main communities are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town. Wandsworth’s high street is dominated by the regenerated Southside shopping centre, cinema and restaurant complex. Other key retail destinations include Battersea Power Station, Putney Exchange Shopping Centre and New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms. Largest employers include the local authority, the University of Roehampton, South Thames College, Wandsworth Prison, St George’s Hospital in Tooting and Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, Apple, Penguin Random House, The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and the US Embassy.

The City of Westminster occupies much of the central area of Greater London. It is home to many of London’s most renowned sites, including St James’s Palace, Buckingham Place, the Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street. It is also where you will find the London’s most famous shopping areas on Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Bond Street. Westminster has the largest number of employee jobs of all London boroughs. Two thirds of the 759,000 employee jobs in Westminster are located in just two of its electoral wards, St James and the West End. Professional, scientific & technical activities, ICT, hospitality and government services are the key employment sectors. Westminster hosts the largest cluster of creative and media businesses in London covering publishing, film, TV and music production, programming and broadcasting activities. Key employers in the borough include British Land, Grosvenor, King’s College London, London Zoo, Microsoft, NHS Imperial Healthcare Trust, Octavia, The Crown Estate and Westminster City Council.

East London

Barking and Dagenham has a low job density with employment concentrated mostly within four sectors: retail and wholesale, administration and business services, education, and health and social care. The business administration, education and wholesale sectors account for a much larger share of employment than general average. Retail and hospitality jobs are mostly found in the borough’s three main towns – Barking, Chadwell Heath and Dagenham. The borough has a strong manufacturing heritage but jobs are declining in the sector. NTT London 1 Data Centre in Dagenham is one of the largest data centres in Europe and is supporting a growing cluster of media and creative companies as well as the broader ICT sector. London’s largest film and television production centre, Eastbrook Studios London, is being built in Dagenham, East London. The investment includes an endowment to maximize local jobs, placements, apprenticeships, community outreach and supply chain opportunities. Eastbrook Studios London will be a major boost for the borough of Barking & Dagenham and the UK entertainment industry, creating an estimated 1,200 jobs.

Bordering the City of London, Hackney has experienced the fastest growth in employment and businesses of all London boroughs, particularly in the creative and professional sectors. Employment in the borough is heavily concentrated in professional, scientific and technical services (twice the national average), ICT (three times the national average) and health & social care. Other key employment sectors include retail and wholesale, administration and business support services, and education.

Hackney’s businesses are mostly clustered in Shoreditch and Hoxton. Dalston is Hackney’s largest town centre, known for its cultural and social diversity and a thriving creative sector. Hackney Central is the civic and cultural heart of Hackney, a key hub transport hub and a growing town centre with a diverse retail sector. Shoreditch, which lies just north-east of Hackney’s border with the City of London, is considered to be a part of London’s East End. It is an important cultural and entertainment centre that is home to a large concentration of creative industries as well as restaurants, bars, night clubs and licensed premises. The area has attracted an influx of new businesses and residents, and has recently seen major large scale commercial developments. The south part of Hoxton also boasts a vibrant art scene with a large number of bars, nightclubs, restaurants and art galleries. The area’s creative industry includes design firms, recording, production and publishing companies and a range of ICT businesses. For the past decade, Shoreditch and south Hoxton have one of London’s highest rates of business start-ups.

Largest employment sectors in Havering include health and social care, retail and wholesale, administration and business support, and education. Construction and healthcare account for a much larger share of employment in the borough than the national average. Romford is the principal retail and commercial hub in the borough with a major night-time economy and a small business district close to the railway station. Hornchurch and Upminster are the other main retail centres with extensive high street shopping areas. Industrial and warehousing units are mostly clustered in Rainham Riverside and to a lesser extend in Harold Wood/Hill. Some key local employers include Havering Council; Sport and Leisure Management; Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sodexo.

Newham is located in the heart of east London; it is bounded by the River Lea to its west and the North Circular Road to its east. The borough contains most of the Olympic Park including the London Stadium and is also home to London City Airport, London City Hall, Excel Exhibition Centre and Westfield Stratford City shopping centre. Stratford is the largest and busiest town centre in Newham, and is a hub for shopping, leisure, transport and business.

Largest employment sectors in Newham are retail, public administration, education, health and social care, and administrative & support services. Major employers in the borough include Newham Council, City Hall (Mayor of London, Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Assembly), the University of East London, L&Q, Barts Health NHS Trust, and H&M Revenue and Customs. Royal Docks is London’s only enterprise zone. Newhall Council is working with the GLA to establish this riverside industrial district as a hub for enterprise, employment and culture, as well as a test-bed for technological innovation and green tech. Regeneration of the area is expected to deliver up to 35,000 jobs by 2037/38.

Redbridge has a low job density (ratio of jobs per residents) with employment concentrated in the public sector especially healthcare but also education. Other key employment sectors include retail and wholesale, and administration and business support services. Ilford is the main town centre and the major economic centre of the borough. New development and regeneration in Redbridge is primarily focused on Ilford town centre. Largest employers include the London Borough of Redbridge; North East London NHS Foundation Trust; Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust; the Metropolitan Police; M&S On Time Services; Barnados; Mitie; New City College; Spire London East Hospital and Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure.

Tower Hamlets is one of the highest economic and employment growth areas in the country with one of the highest numbers of new business start-ups and an estimate of the 344,000 employee jobs. Of these jobs, a fifth (73,000) are in the finance and insurance. Other large employment sectors are professional, scientific and technical activities (62,000 employee jobs), ICT (43,000 jobs) and business administration and support services (31,000 jobs). The rise of Canary Wharf as a global financial district has had positive effects on local employment through the spread of associated service industries such as law, accountancy, business consultancy and administration services. The borough also benefits from a strong creative, publishing and media industries principally concentrated in Canary Wharf and Whitechapel.

Waltham Forest is located on the edge of inner London, alongside the Lea Valley with excellent transport connections to central London. The borough has a network of town centres – Leyton and Leytonstone in the south, Walthamstow in the centre and Chingford in the north – and major strategic industrial sites at Blackhorse Lane and Argall Trading estates. Key employment sectors consist of administration and business services, retail and wholesale, health and social care, and education. The borough has benefited from investment in Olympic legacy projects and the movement of the capital’s economic activity eastwards. Key growth sectors in the borough include the creative industry, construction and professional services. Larger employers include Waltham Forest Council, Waltham Forest College, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, Whipps Cross University Hospital (part of Barts Health NHS Trust), supermarket chains and construction firm Morgan Sindall.

West London

Barnet is the second largest populated London borough and is home to Barnet Football Club and large employers such as Middlesex University, Barnet & Southgate College and Public Health England. Largest employment sectors include business, professional and administrative services, retail, health and social care, and education. The borough also benefits from a relative strong real estate sector that accounts for 5% of all local jobs (more than twice the English average).

Brent is known for landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, the Swaminarayan Temple and the Kiln Theatre. It also contains the OVO Arena in Wembley, the Welsh Harp reservoir and the Park Royal commercial estate. Largest employers in the borough include Central Middlesex Hospital, Brent Council, Flannery Plant Hire, Vitabiotics, Bailey Facilities Services operating at Wembley Stadium, SNG (Sovereign Network Group), the College of North West London, and Maria Mallaband Care Group.

Employment is concentrated in the southwest of the borough in the areas of Alperton, Wembley and Stonebridge. Largest industry sectors in the borough include retail and wholesale (22,000 employee jobs), health and social care (21,000 jobs), followed by administration and business services, accommodation and food services, and education. Retail, hospitality and leisure jobs are strongly clustered in Wembley Park and the Olympic Way. With 9,000 employee jobs in manufacturing, Brent has the second highest concentration of employment in the sector. Industrial activity is highly concentrated in Park Royal.

  • Wembley Park is a major retail, hospitality and leisure hub with a wide range of shops and over 50 outlets serving food and drinks. Wembley Park is home to the Wembley Stadium, the OVO Arena Wembley and Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre as well as Boxpark Wembley – featuring a large selection of independent street food traders, the London Designer Outlet with over 70 retail shops, restaurants, coffee shops and a Cineworld, and the Wembley Park Market that hosts independent traders selling vintage fashions, craft and artisan food.
  • Park Royal, which spans the boroughs of Ealing and Brent, is London’s primary established industrial area and is the largest area of strategic industrial land in the city. It supports around 1,700 businesses that employ 43,100 employees across a range of sectors including food manufacturing, logistics, film and TV props, car repair and vehicle maintenance. Regeneration of the area could reportedly create up to 10,000 jobs.

Ealing benefits from a diverse economy driven by retail and wholesale, health and social care, administration and business services, education and manufacturing. Ealing has the highest number of jobs in manufacturing of all London boroughs (11,000 employee jobs in 2024). Employment is strongly concentrated in Ealing, Acton, Greenford and Southall. Key local employers include Ealing hospital, Central Middlesex hospital, Ealing Council, the University of West London, Brompton Bicycle and Delifrance.

  • Ealing has a rich heritage in film and media production with the world’s oldest film studio, Ealing Studios based in central Ealing. This heritage has helped Ealing attract some of the most technically advanced film production companies, with Garden Studios alone providing 200,000 sq. ft of space in Park Royal. Acton and Park Royal is a Creative Enterprise Zone and the UK’s largest industrial estate spanning across Ealing, Brent, and Hammersmith & Fulham. In Ealing, the enterprise zone supports over 1,250 creative sector jobs and at least 150 film, TV, music and visual arts businesses alongside their local supply chains.* Ealing town has the highest concentration of knowledge intensive employment in the borough, with nearly 4,500 jobs in financial and professional services. It is also a popular destination for UK and overseas students studying at the University of West London.**
  • Acton has a thriving retail high street, a strong independent and creative business base along Churchfield Road, and several industrial sites particularly clustered in the south.
    • Greenford’s industrial land is a major employment area housing a range of innovative high-tech businesses, logistic, manufacturing and food businesses including Brompton Bicycle Factory and Ferrero.
  • Southall is home to major public sector employers, such as Ealing Hospital NHS Trust and St Bernard’s Hospital. Many food manufacturers are based in Southall here including Delifrance and Kerry Foods / Noon Products. Southall is one of the borough’s key areas for investment and growth, with at least 9,000 new homes and 3,000 new jobs planned by 2041.

Source: Ealing Council, 2025 – *Join us in Ealing Brochure – ** Ealing – Good for Ealing

Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) is located halfway between Heathrow and the city and the West End, and benefits from great transport links. The borough has three professional football teams (Chelsea, Fulham and QPR), a thriving media and arts scene, The Olympia conference centre, the UK’s largest shopping mall – Westfield London – and open-air markets such as at Shepherds Bush and North End Road.
Hammersmith & Fulham is also home to a thriving business community with a concentration of start-up businesses as well as many global companies such as Disney, GE, L’Oreal, Novartis and Virgin Media. Its economy is driven by business, professional and scientific services that account for almost a quarter of employment (23%). Retail and wholesale are the second largest employment sector (18% of local jobs), followed by ICT. The borough has a high concentration of employment in ICT – 16% which is almost three times the national average – and in arts, leisure and entertainment. There are two significant industry clusters in Hammersmith & Fulham.

  • A large creative industries cluster with theatres and important cultural spaces such as the renowned Bush Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, the Eventim Apollo and Olympia London; educational art establishments like the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and the Royal College of Art, and a concentration of television and media companies including the BBC, Channel 4, Disney, ITV and Publicis Media’s agencies based in White City. The borough’s Creative Enterprise Zone stretches from Imperial College London’s White City campus in the north of the zone to West Brompton Station in the south, including Shepherds Bush, the White City Innovation District, Olympia, and Earl’s Court.
  • A science and technology cluster that includes Blenheim Chalcot, the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, the pharmaceutical company Novartis, NATO’s defence innovation centre, Autolus, Invox Pharma, Synthace and over 60 life sciences start-ups and spin-out companies. This STEM cluster is anchored by Imperial College London which has developed space at White City for companies to work alongside academics in molecular sciences, biomedical engineering, med-tech, public health and other science and engineering specialties. There are many other innovation hubs and incubation centres in Hammersmith & Fulham with laboratory space that support companies to scale up their technology and research & development activities.

Earls Court development, which includes Fulham Town Centre as well as the Earls Court and West Kensington Opportunity Area is expected to create up to 12,000 jobs on a 40-acre site across the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea.

Harrow consists of three towns – Harrow, Pinner and Stanmore – and also includes western parts of Edgware. There were 73,000 employee jobs in Harrow in 2024, which is one of the lowest numbers of all London boroughs. Harrow has a high proportion of entrepreneurs and micro-businesses that employ four people or fewer. The leading employment sectors in Harrow are health and social care, and retail and wholesale, followed by education and administration, business, professional and technical services. Central Harrow forms a commercial hub with many retail outlets, commercial offices, and increasingly residential apartments due to recent regeneration schemes. The town has two shopping centres, St Anns and St George’s.

The NHS is the largest employer in the borough, other key employers include Harrow Borough Council, educational providers, private health and social care providers, supermarket chains and facility management businesses like Compass Group. Harrow is served by Northwick Park Hospital and specialist St Mark’s Hospital as well as the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, and private hospitals including the Clementine Churchill Hospital and Cygnet Hospital. The borough is also home to numerous educational establishments including Harrow School, Harrow College, Stanmore College and the University of Westminster’s Harrow campus that serves as the university’s base for Media, Arts and Design.

Hillingdon is the second largest borough in London but is also the second least densely populated, due to a combination of rural land in the north, RAF Northolt Aerodrome, and Heathrow Airport. The main towns in the borough are Hayes, Ruislip, Northwood, West Drayton and Uxbridge. Hillingdon has a diverse economy driven by transport and logistic sector, business services and retail sector.

Heathrow Airport is the UK’s largest airport and the busiest airport in Europe. It employs 7,500 staff, although around 75,000 people in total are employed at the airport by partner companies including airlines, retailers, food and drink operators, car rental companies, baggage handling and cargo operators, and construction and maintenance contractors. The airport reportedly supports 114,000 local jobs in the supply chain and related service companies including hotels, which represents around one fifth of local employment.

Hillingdon is also home to Brunel University, Uxbridge College, a host of large companies such as British Airways, Coca Cola and Canon and thousands of small and medium sized businesses and an ever- increasing logistics sector. Cadbury Schweppes (part of Mondelez International), Regeneration Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb have their UK head office in Uxbridge, while Canon, Gilead Sciences, Hasbro, Kuehne+Nagel and Marks & Spencer are located in Stockley Park, Hayes. Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust are the main healthcare employers in the borough.

Hounslow is strategically located along the A4/M4 corridor and near Heathrow Airport. It is home to the headquarters of many global companies – including JCDecaux, Pernod Ricard, Cisco, CBS, Eurosport, Sky and Sega Europe – as well as a range of high-tech startups and IT SMEs like Brompton Technology. ICT accounts for 13% of employment in the borough (around three times the national average). The borough has the highest concentration of media, programming and broadcasting businesses and TV companies in London including Sky, Disney, Sony, Eurosport, Paramount, CBS, Discovery and QVC. Half of London’s 36,000 screen programming professionals reportedly work in Hounslow, where one in five of all London’s broadcast sector jobs are located.*

In addition, Heathrow Airport is a key driver of Hounslow’s economy and many companies in the borough are part of its supply chain. DHL Air Freight operations are based in Hounslow while Air France-KLM’s UK head office is located in Bedfont. Transport, logistics and warehousing is the largest employment sector in the borough, accounting for over a fifth of employment (23%). Other key sectors for jobs include retail and wholesale and administration and business services. Hounslow town centre is the largest in the borough offering a range of retail, leisure and hospitality venues. Other major towns in the borough include Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth and Feltham.

*Source: London Borough of Hounslow, 2024 – Opportunity Hounslow – Gateway to London and the World

Kingston is set in a prime riverside location with easy access to central London, the Surrey countryside and London’s two major airports. Retail, healthcare and education account for almost half of jobs in the borough. Another major employment sector is professional, scientific and technical services. Around 30% of businesses registered in Kingston offer knowledge-based services (professional, scientific or technical services or ICT). Kingston University is the largest education provider in South London and a key local employer. The borough is also home to Chessington World of Adventures attraction, Kingston hospital, BAE Systems and the head offices of Lidl and Oliver Bonas. Unilever is building a large campus in Kingston; it will become its new headquarters and house around 2,000 employees by spring 2026. Kingston town centre is the primary retail location. Other local town centres include Surbiton, Tolworth, New Malden and Chessington.

Richmond’s economy is very diversified with the largest employment sector being business, professional and technical services. Other key employment sectors include retail and wholesale, education, health and social care, food and accommodation services, arts and entertainment, and administration and business services. There is a high proportion of jobs in arts, leisure and entertainment. Businesses are primarily concentrated in the main centres of Richmond, Twickenham and Teddington. The borough is a popular visitor destination offering a wide range of attractions including Kew Gardens, Hampton Court, Richmond and Bushy Parks, the riverside, the Wildfowl and Wetland Centre, and the Rugby Football Union at Twickenham. In addition to these, there is a range of events throughout the year which attract additional visitors such as the RHS Hampton Court flower show and rugby matches as well as business tourism.

South London

Bexley forms part of Outer London. Main employment sectors in the borough include retail and wholesale, health and social care, education, transport and warehousing, business administration and support services. Retail and hospitality jobs are concentrated in its five larger town centres of Bexleyheath, Crayford, Erith, Sidcup and Welling.

Bromley is the largest borough in Greater London by area, and it is also one of the most rural. Most of its population lives in the east and west of the borough, or in Bromley Town Centre. Employment is heavily reliant on the public sector, especially education and healthcare. Other large employment sectors include retail and wholesale, administration and support services, and hospitality. The shopping centres of The Glades in Bromley and The Walnuts in Orpington offer many job opportunities.

Croydon is a key retail and leisure destination surrounded by Surrey countryside and well-connected to central London or Gatwick (15 minutes away), and to Canary Wharf (30 minutes away). The borough is home to a prime logistics hub in the Purley Way and a leisure hotspot including Boxpark, Fern and The Store. It also represents a major office headquarters hub, with Superdrug, HMRC, The Home Office and EDF Energy all based in the town centre. However, Croydon’s economy remains heavily reliant on retail and wholesale and public sector jobs. Largest employers include Croydon Council, HMRC, Mott MacDonald and Superdrug.

The Royal Borough of Greenwich borders the River Thames and has a rich royal and maritime history. It is home to shops and street markets, including the Greenwich Covered Market. Greenwich is known for its tourist attractions, such as the Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory and Prime Meridian, Eltham Palace and the O2 Arena. Health & social care, education, retail, hospitality, business administration and support services are the largest employment sectors in the borough. Arts and entertainment account for a significant share of employment (6.5%) compared to national average. The creative industry is a key growth sector in the local economy with several industry clusters including the Digital Peninsula in Greenwich – linked to The O2 and Ravensbourne; Woolwich – with the cultural quarter on the Royal Arsenal; West Greenwich – centred around the World Heritage Site including the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory; and Charlton – due to the availability of affordable and appropriately sized artist workspaces.

Lambeth includes the popular cultural hub of the South Bank, the street markets of Brixton, and the open spaces of Clapham and Streatham Commons. A third of employment is in health and social care. Other large employment sector include hospitality (a relatively high number of jobs in the sector compared to national or London’s average) as well as retail and wholesale, and a wide range of administration, business, professional and technical services.

Lewisham is heavily reliant on public sector employment, especially education and healthcare. Other large employment sectors include retail and wholesale and food and accommodation services. There are exciting developments happening in Lewisham town centres and local neighbourhoods, bringing new housing, schools and leisure facilities to the area. The regeneration of Catford town centre is developing new homes, shops and improvements to public space over the next 10–15 years.

Merton can be characterised as the gateway between inner and outer south west London. The Borough is mostly a residential area and has a low job density. There is a relatively limited amount of land available for business and jobs, relative to the space for homes, parks and open spaces. Retail and wholesale is the main employment sector followed by administration and business support, health and social care, professional, scientific and technical activities and education. The NHS is the largest employer in the borough including Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Sutton is home to several large international companies and is the sixth most important shopping area in London. The leading employment sectors are health and social care, administration and business services, education and retail. The largest employer in Sutton is Epsom and St Helier University Hospital NHS Trust.

Sources:

  1. Employment – number of employee jobs and % of employment by sector: Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) 2024, Office for National Statistics (ONS)
  2. Businesses – number of enterprises by industry sector: Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) – UK Business Counts – enterprises by industry and employment size band 2025, ONS

View our LMI overviews to find out more about key London employment sectors:

Administration

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Childcare

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Construction

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Digital and IT

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Education

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Engineering

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Finance

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Health and Social Care

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Hospitality

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Property and Real Estate

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Transport and Logistics

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