The constituency contains the town from which it takes its name, Jarrow, as well as the town of Hebburn and the villages of Boldon, Cleadon and Whitburn, and the large Primrose council estate.
During the 1930s, the south bank of the Tyne, east of Newcastle, was the most depressed part of Britain, and the collapse of the Tyne shipbuilding industry caused male unemployment in Jarrow to soar to 70% - which led to Jarrow’s famous "hunger march" to London in 1936. Unemployment was actually higher in the neighbouring town of Hebburn.
This seat’s economy was traditionally based on coal mining, steelworks and shipping - during the 1980s the coal and steel works declined and closed down, and there is only a little of the shipping business left. South Tyneside Council - which covers most of the Jarrow constituency - has set up organisations such as STEP (South Tyneside Enterprise Partnership), which encourages the private and voluntary sectors to introduce schemes to rejuvenate the area. These schemes include the extension of the metro transport system and the provision of a second Tyne tunnel.