Understanding the differential effects on employment of a community wealth building programme in England: a difference-in-differences study.

Abstract

Background: People-centred initiatives to create and retain local wealth, such as Community Wealth Building (CWB), have potential to stimulate regional economic regeneration that addresses economic inequalities by increasing the economic inclusion of more disadvantaged groups. Preston, a relatively deprived city in England, has implemented a CWB programme that has been associated with improvements in local wages and well-being. We estimated the effect of Preston's CWB programme on employment and examined differential effects by disability status and other equality dimensions.

Methods: We conducted a difference-in-differences analysis combined with entropy balancing to estimate the effect of the introduction of the CWB programme in Preston on local employment rates, using individual-level data from the Annual Population Survey collected between 2011 and 2019. We performed subgroup analysis to investigate whether the effect on employment was modified by disability, ethnic group, sex or education level.

Results: We analysed survey responses from 95 476 individuals. The introduction of the CWB programme was associated with an increase in the employment rate of 4% (95% CI 2.4% to 5.7%) among people living in Preston, compared with what would have been expected in the absence of the programme. The effect on employment was greater among people with disabilities, minority ethnic groups, men and people with lower levels of education.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that CWB can have a positive impact on employment over a relatively short period of time, which disproportionately benefits people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups. This evidence can be used to inform the development, implementation and evaluation of CWB strategies in other places. Preston's CWB programme may represent a strategy to achieve more equitable economic growth and reduce health inequalities.