Economic Geography

Policy levers
In turn, this raises the question of what policy levers are available at different
geographical levels to influence outcomes and which are appropriate in what
circumstances. Again, there is scope here for economic geographers to contribute
to the debate, through their understanding of labour market processes, gover-
nance and the role of intermediaries. In the United Kingdom there has been 
a trend towards greater devolution of responsibility for implementation and
delivery of labour market related policies, so that regional and sub-regional part-
nerships are looking to identify and develop interventions at regional (and sub-
regional) levels. Yet the importance of national policies and associated targets in
shaping the activities of, and targets for, regional (and sub-regional) partners is
clear, so placing limits on the scope and nature of regionally-specific interventions,
unlike in countries with a federal structure and associated regional/state powers,
such as the Germany and the USA.
Future agenda
Looking ahead, there is an ongoing role for economic geographers to monitor
trends and changes in the labour market and their spatial impacts. Such monitoring
inevitably has a substantial empirical component. Importantly, the emphasis here
needs to be on ‘flows’ as well as on ‘stocks’. To some this may seem mundane,
but nevertheless such activity is valuable.
Many interesting and exciting avenues of investigation exist for researchers
concerned with labour market geographies in the years ahead. Even if all such
possibilities could be imagined, space constraints would preclude meaningful
discussion. Hence, a single issue (and related sub-questions) is identified here.
‘Mobility’ and ‘adjustment’ have been emphasised in the preceding sections as
concepts of fundamental importance in labour market geographies. One central

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Anne Green
question – of significance in theoretical, empirical and policy terms – around
which research activity could be usefully focused, is: