THE Southampton and Eastleigh area has been ranked among the top five UK "cities" for employment growth.

There are 40,000 more jobs in the city than there were in 1995, according to research group Centre for Cities, which says Southampton/Eastleigh enjoys an annual employment growth rate of 2.4 per cent.

Much of the growth - 16,500 of the 40,000 jobs, has come in the banking and finance sectors, while construction has also grown significantly.

The news is not so positive for the manufacturing sector which, with the departure of ship builder VT, rail giant Alstom and cigarette maker BAT's factory, has seen a steep decline.

Centre for Cities carried out a study of 60 towns and cities which revealed '"worrying economic inequalities" across the UK with some large areas being the most unequal.

Northern cities such as Doncaster and Sunderland still had employment rates "considerably" below the national average even though they were among the most improved in the country for creating new jobs.

Milton Keynes topped a list of cities enjoying the strongest employment growth in the past decade, followed by Portsmouth, Brighton, Derby and Southampton.

Portsmouth, number two on the list, has seen more than 54,000 jobs created since 1995.

In total, the Southampton area has a workforce above 187,000.

Part of Southampton/Eastleigh's jobs growth can be attributed to its ballooning population. The area swelled by 24,100 people over the past decade, giving it a population of 347,600 and putting it at number seven on a list of the fastest growing "cities" in the UK.

However there was bad news, in confirmation that the area has some of the lowest earnings growth in the country. Average weekly earnings grew just 2.2 per cent during the last four years, from £460 in 2002 to £506 in 2006.