Example employment dissertation topic 8:

‘Re-employing the north’: The case for transference of Whitehall departments to the North-East of England.

Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this dissertation advances a simple hypothesis. Based upon existent levels of employment migration from north to south, the growing ‘house price gap’ between the two, and infrastructural concerns (for instance, water shortages), it argues that the time has come for the relocation of two central government departments to the North-East of England. In advancing this proposal, the dissertation suggests that the traditional reasons advanced for ‘Whitehall supremacy’, such as nearness to Parliament and the national press are, due to technological developments, no longer appropriate and that the relocation of a diverse (but predominantly office-based white collar) workforce north would not only help to re-balance employment and housing markets but also lead to associated rises in employment in complimentary service industries. This is a bold dissertation weaving together issues of employment, regionalism, government policy and sociological perceptions that would be ideally suited to someone interested in a career within the public services.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Cabinet Office/HM Treasury (2003). Efficiency review: Releasing resources to the frontline, October. HMSO: London.
• Hudson, R. (1998). ‘Restructuring region and state: The case of North East England’. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, vol. 89(1), pp. 15-30.
• Marshall, J.N., Bradley, D., Hodgson, C., Alderman, N. and Richardson, R. (2005). ‘Relocation, relocation, relocation: Assessing the case for public sector dispersal’. Regional Studies, vol. 39(6), pp. 767-787.