Economic Geography

Concerns
In order to illustrate some key developments in research concerning labour
market geographies, four topics of relevance to the operation of local and regional
labour markets are reviewed in this section. These topics have been selected
to provide a flavour of the concerns of researchers, and to highlight new and
emerging foci for study.
Labour market adjustments
Adjustment processes are central to the operation of
(local) labour markets. In line with the approaches and trends outlined above, at
micro and local area scales economic geographers have emphasised the need for
grounding analyses in a spatial perspective of labour market behaviour that
recognises strong inter-connections of sub-markets through both geographical
and occupational mobility, and the empirical significance of the specific ways in
which adjustment processes operate (Gordon 2003). At local labour market area
level the labour market accounts technique has proved insightful in highlighting
how different areas have adjusted to job shortfalls. Following on from earlier
applications (such as Owen et al. 1984), Beatty and Fothergill (1996) used the
technique to examine the roles of migration, commuting, job creation and changes
in labour force participation as mediating influences in labour market adjustment
in British coalfield areas suffering job loss in mining. Of particular policy relevance
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Labour market geographies
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here (as highlighted in the next section) was the significant reduction in labour
market participation. The labour market accounts technique is avowedly quanti-
tative and demanding of spatially disaggregated data, and as such it may be
viewed as running counter to the trend towards greater emphasis on qualitative
methods and on social and cultural perspectives. However, more qualitative case
study approaches have proved valuable in emphasising the barriers to mobility
and the rationale for immobility amongst sub-groups with relatively weak posi-
tion in the labour market and strong social and cultural ties to specific places
(Kitching 1990).
The balance between migration and commuting
As highlighted above, spatial
(im)mobility is a topic of central importance for the operation of local labour
markets. Links between residences and workplaces have long been a central inter-
est of economic geographers, population geographers and planners. At the intra-
urban level one body of literature reflecting this interest is that on spatial
mismatch, but the attention of geographers also extends to links between job
access and labour market outcomes at inter-urban and inter-regional scales.
Faced with a dearth of employment opportunities appropriate to his/her skills in
a particular local labour market area a non-employed job searcher may remain
non-employed, take a job for which he/she is over-qualified or search over a
larger area and accept a more appropriate job at a greater distance. This latter
option is likely to mean either extended commuting or migration. In a study of
job access, workplace mobility and occupational achievement involving cross-
sectional and longitudinal analyses, van Ham (2002) shows that urban structure
influences labour market outcomes of individuals and urban structure itself is
influenced by the spatial behaviour of workers. Good access to jobs leads to occu-
pational achievement and reduces the need to be spatially flexible. A strategic resi-
dential location maximising the opportunity for commuting and so minimising
the need for migration is particularly important for dual career households,
combining two workplace locations with one place of residence. Such house-
holds, which have become quantitatively more important as the participation of
women in the labour market and in high level jobs has increased, face complex
location and mobility decisions, involving multiple work and non-work compro-
mises and trade-offs (Green 1997; Hardill 2002). Changes in the organisation of
work, enabling at least some workers to work away from the workplace for at
least part of the time contribute to a more diverse choreography of working lives
reflecting different configurations of, and responses to, lifestyle choices, work
demands and other constraints.
The place of perceptions
Until recently the role of area perceptions in shaping
the behaviour of labour market and behaviour of individuals has been relatively
neglected, despite the greater recognition of labour markets as social and insti-
tutional constructs. Yet historical patterns of socialisation and employment, resi-
dential location and segregation, and variations in spatial behaviour and local

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social capital contribute to different ways of ‘knowing’ the labour market by
different people in different places. In a recent study of disadvantaged young
people in Belfast involving testing knowledge of job concentrations in the city,
the drawing of mental maps and focus group discussions, Green et al. (2005)
show that limited mobility, geographical factors, religious factors and lack of
confidence intertwine in complex ways to limit perceived opportunities and serve
to create subjective opportunity structures that are a subset of all objective
opportunity structures. Many young people restricted their options and chances
of employment by discounting training and work opportunities in areas that
were physically accessible but unfamiliar.
The role of labour market intermediaries
A further relatively new topic of study
for economic geographers is the role of labour market intermediaries. Labour
market intermediaries broker the relationship between workers and employers
through their involvement in three labour market functions: first, reducing trans-
actions costs; second, building networks; and thirdly, managing risk. As such,
they play an important role in shaping access to the labour market – both posi-
tively and negatively. In an overview using Silicon Valley as a case study, Brenner
(2003) emphasises that labour market intermediaries are themselves varied,
including temporary help firms, consultant brokerage firms, web-based job sites
and professional employer organisations in the private sector; membership-based
intermediaries such as professional associations, guilds and trade union initia-
tives; and public sector intermediaries encompassing institutions making up the
workforce development ‘system’, education-based institutions providing adult
education and customised job training for employers, and community organisa-
tions engaging in job training and placement activities. In the United Kingdom,
as in the United States, labour market intermediaries are becoming more impor-
tant in regional and local development and policy, and as such are a fruitful
subject for further research.