London was historically a shipping and manufacturing city. However, both of these sectors have declined sharply since the 1960s. Over a million manufacturing jobs were lost between 1960 and 1990 as traditional craft-based manufacturing waned and newer growth industries relocated to areas outside both London and other major cities, aided by government incentives
A clock tower—popularly known as "Big Ben"—dominates the British parliament building on the banks of the Thames River in Westminster. ()
to attract industry to high-unemployment regions. Manufacturing has been eclipsed by financial services, in which London has become both a national and a world leader. In 1990, business and financial services accounted for one in six jobs. London laid claim to one-third of all British employment in this sector—reportedly the world's largest concentration of such jobs in one metropolitan center. International banking, commodities, securities trading, and reinsurance services have crowded into modern office towers in the historic "square mile" of the City of London, providing new opportunities for commercial development, subject to the space limitations of the district. By the end of the 1990s, the recession of the early part of the decade was over; tourism was booming; and major public works projects were under way, spurred by the approach of a new millennium.
