Employment and unemployment.

Abstract

The economic and social problems of large cities and of the inner city have generated considerable debate. Identifies the absolute and relative shifts in the distribution of employment away from the major cities which have characterised many western countries over the last two decades, and describes the changing pattern of unemployment at the inter- and intra-city scales. Decentralisation resulting from either plant transfer or differential rates of growth or closure between central and peripheral locations is then considered in detail. The relative importance of the mechanisms underlying the process is assessed. It is concluded that as the chances of creating many new jobs in manufacturing in any Western country are small, the possibility of a major reduction in the current high levels of unemployment in the major cities is slight. -from Editor