Geographies of Labour Market Inequality (Regional Development and Public Policy Series)

In recent years, the local dimensions of the labor market have attracted increasing attention from academic analysts and public policy makers alike. There is growing realization that there is no such thing as the national labor market, instead a mosaic of local and regional markets that differ in nature, performance and regulation. Geographies of Labour Market Inequality is concerned with these multiple geographies of employment, unemployment, work and incomes, and their implications for public policy. The Introduction sets out the case for thinking about the labor market in geographical terms, and discusses some of the challenges confronting labor markets in the contemporary period. In Part Two, the focus is on the processes that produce and reproduce inequalities in employment, unemployment and wages within and between local labor markets. Part Three then explores some of the strategies by which organized labor (unions) and the state are seeking to respond to and ameliorate the uncertainties and inequalities generated by the growing flexibility and fluidity of labor markets.