LIVERPOOL is seen, locally at least, as having proven to be quite resilient in the face of the economic headwind.

A report by employment and skills provider Reed in Partnership has revisited Liverpool’s economic performance one year after its previous study, which credited previous regeneration and investment over the past 15 years with cushioning the city from the worst effects of the recession.

Martin Fallon, Reed in Partnership’s operations director, said: "We published a report in 2009 looking at the resilience of the Liverpool economy while many people were negative about the city’s chances.

"This week we have published a new report looking at how Liverpool has fared. Liverpool has fared better than the North West as a whole, and unemployment has not risen anywhere near as much as predicted.

"From our work, we are concerned in the rise of people in underemployment – not being able to secure full-time work – and the number of people self-employed.

"Liverpool’s 6.1% lags behind the North West at 7.8% on self-employment. An extra 4,900 people would need to be supported to start up on their own to bring it up to the North West average and 8,300 to bring it up to the UK average."

"Against this backdrop we have the regional development agency being abolished. A key issue is how we can promote a more entrepreneurial DR for the city."

The shift to part-time work which has been a feature of this recession across the UK. There has been a 10% rise in men employed part-time in the last year, while the number of women with part-time jobs has also risen, by 2%.

There are now 8m part-time workers in the UK – with 1.1m of those wanting to work full-time but unable to find a job.

It is just one of a number of recent changes to the employment landscape.