Labour market polarisation as a localised process: Evidence from Sweden

Abstract

The present article creates a link between contemporary labour market polarisation and regional divergence and analyses the spatial patterns of labour market polarisation in Swedish municipalities during the period 2002-2012. The results show that the national pattern of labour market polarisation is driven by polarisation in clusters of previously manufacturing-dominated municipalities with low- A nd medium-skill production, as well as increasing labour market polarisation and spatial selection within the fast-growing top-tier metropolitan regions. Outside these polarising spaces, most municipalities still experience job upgrading. The much-discussed abandonment of the traditional Western European job-upgrading model towards a polarising trajectory is thus not unequivocal. Regional labour market change and metropolitan selection cause great variation in labour market trajectories across space.