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In Business: Return to Teesside

Job losses have plagued Teesside for decades. Ruth Sunderland's father never worked again when he lost his job in 1987. She returns home to explore the area's future.

Job losses have plagued Teesside for decades and the area still has a stubbornly high unemployment rate. Ruth Sunderland grew up in Middlesbrough where her father worked as an engineer. In 1987 the company, where he'd been employed since he was a teenager, collapsed and he never worked again. Believing there was no future for her in her home town, she left to forge a career in London. Following more recent job losses in the steel industry, Ruth returns to her roots. Will entrepreneurial start-ups provide young Teessiders with prospects that, 30 years ago, she could not see? And what does the post-steel, post-Brexit future look like from Teesside?
Producer: Rosamund Jones

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28 minutes

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