The Structure of Sprawl: Identifying and Characterizing Employment Centers in Polycentric Metropolitan Areas

This paper applies a consistent framework to four comparably sized metropolitan areas to identify and characterize their employment centers. Employment centers are identified as places that exceed a threshold employment density and a threshold employment level. They are also characterized as specializing on the basis of location quotient analysis. We find clear evidence of specialization in every employment center in the four metropolitan areas studied. Our interpretation is that what we are observing is a systematic change in metropolitan structure rather than a random sprawling of firms. We also find some evidence that the size distribution of employment centers follows the rank-size rule. This suggests that there is structure not only in the distribution of economic activity among the employment centers but also in their size distribution. Because less than 50 percent of metropolitan employment is within employment centers, future research should focus on understanding the more diffuse employment patterns. The rank-size rule gives some guidance as to the expected size distribution of employment throughout the metropolitan area.     

A model for manpower, employment, training and education

The increasing refinement and variety of economic projections can give the educational planner an extremely useful tool, providing he can find a way to convert sectoral projections of employment into educational requirements. In this study occupational data from the Census of 1960 were converted directly into their vocational educational equivalents so that cross-classifications by (SIC) sector permitted the derivation of sectoral employment/education coefficients. These coefficients, multiplied by projected employment in each sector, give projected employment in terms of the vocational preparation which is implied.

Using this approach, vocational preparation requirements were projected to 1975 for the fifty states and 224 metropolitan areas. The results thus generated show the variety which can be anticipated among the various regions in the United States, and can provide guidance to local and state educational groups in setting up programs at state and local levels.

A similar approach which used various national projections led to two conclusions. The level of sectoral detail can have quite important impacts on the “mix” of training requirements which results, suggesting that projections of this type must be based on quite detailed sectoral employment breakdowns. Second, shifts in patterns of growth can have marked impacts on some types of vocational training requirements while needs for other types remain relatively unaffected.     

Sectoral sources of metropolitan growth

The paper proposes a method for identifying sectoral sources of metropolitan employment growth The key feature of the VAR is the set of (over)identifying restrictions which do not require a causal ordering to be developed among industries to create orthogonal sectoral shocks. The simulations for four cities indicate that local sectoral shocks are more important than national counterparts, and that among local shocks, the overall evidence indicates that manufacturing, service and public sector employment shocks account for a substantial portion of employment growth variation, a conclusion that seems roughly consistent with export-oriented models of metropolitan growth.     

西方国家文化产业的就业特点

自"世界文化政策大会"召开20余年来,文化产业发展大潮已席卷大多数西方国家.根据西方学者的相关研究,西方国家文化产业就业主要呈现以下七个特点:巨大的就业量、较快的就业增速、主要分布在都市区、分布倾向于发达大城市、各地域具有不同的优势部门、产业结构中"生产"功能增长显著、生产活动中中小型企业处支配地位.结合我国的实际状况,西方国家文化产业就业可以给我国如下启示:就业应成为文化产业发展的指示器;文化产业不是绝对的支柱产业;要扶持优势产业以促进城市竞争力;农村地区可以适当发展文化产业;文化产业不等同于高新技术产业;注重对小企业的扶持.     

Investment and employment in manufacturing in U.S. metropolitan areas 1960–1976

This paper develops a simple vintage model of the relation between investment and employment in manufacturing. Parameters of the model are estimated using time series data for the US taken from the Surveys and Censuses of Manufactures conducted from 1954–1976. The results indicate that the age of the manufacturing capital stock was increasing in most major metropolitan areas during this period. Due to capital aging, the nature of technological change, and the pattern of depreciation, the amount of annual investment per worker required to sustain employment in manufacturing rose substantially. The dispersion of growth rates across areas also increased.     

Differentiating employment prospects by industry and returns to job search in metropolitan areas

The role of differentiating employment prospects by the industry of the employer in the job seeker's calculation of the returns to search is analyzed. It is demonstrated that returns to search can vary systematically between metropolitan areas because of differing mixes of industry employment; it is argued that an increase in a measure of dispersion in the industry mix will tend to raise returns to job search. To test this hypothesis, cross sections of census data on unemployment rates of male experienced workers in each of the seven major occupational groups were analyzed. Statistically significant regression equations were obtained for three occupational groups (craftsmen, nonfarm laborers, and operatives); in all these cases the results supported the hypothesis of the paper.     

Estimation and recent behavior of urban population and employment density gradients

The monocentric model of urban structure predicts that urban population density declines with distance from the central business district. Using the negative exponential function to approximate the decline, Mills (E. S. Mills, “Studies in the Structure of the Urban Economy,” Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md. (1972)) estimated population and employment density gradients from 1948 to 1963 for a sample of 18 SMSAs. This paper updates Mills' estimates and examines recent patterns in population and employment suburbanization. The updated series estimated here is obtained using a “corrected” version of Mills' method. The original procedure incorporated a bias which Mills noted and later corrected (E. Mills and K. Ohta, in “Asia's New Giant” (Patrick and Rosovsky, Eds.), The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. (1976)). The comparability of the series begun by Mills and extended here is not interrupted, however, because, as Mills suspected, the bias is indeed small provided SMSA data are used. On the other hand, Urbanized Area definitions of metropolitan areas cause the original and corrected versions to yield significantly different results. This finding has implications for the appropriate choice of data for urban studies.     

Metropolitan suburbanization and central city problems

This paper is an empirical study of effects of central city problems on population and employment suburbanization. It is widely believed that high crime, high taxes, and large minority groups in central cities are important causes of rapid suburbanization of U.S. metropolitan areas. A large set of density functions is estimated for population and employment in U.S. metropolitan areas in 1960 and 1970. Thus, relative central city and suburban measures of crime, taxes, etc., are used in an interactive model to explain population and employment suburbanization. It is found that only racial minorities have an effect on suburbanization.     

Investment incentives and the demand for labor in U.S. regions

Most studies of federal investment incentives are limited to those policies' effects on capital formation. This paper departs from this tradition by examining the employment consequences, in general, and by industry and metropolitan area. In particular, it asks whether the accelerated depreciation allowance and investment tax credit: (1) generally displace more jobs (via the substitution effect) than they create (via the scale effect), (2) affect the overall employment situation in some metropolitan areas more than in others, and (3) help reallocate jobs across industries and metropolitan areas. Using data from Los Angeles and Philadelphia in two production models, the paper concludes that each of these outcomes is likely, though (2) depends on metropolitan areas' particular mixes of industries.     

Labour productivity and employment in Australian manufacturing SMEs

This paper examines the relationship between labour productivity and employment in Australian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The results indicate that labour productivity of SMEs varies substantially between industries within the manufacturing sector, but on average labour productivity for manufacturing SMEs increased at a faster rate than that of large manufacturing enterprises across all industries. All manufacturing industries except one recorded employment growth during the period under study. However like labour productivity growth, employment growth also varies across industries within the manufacturing sector. Yet the study could not establish any definite relationship between labour productivity growth and employment. This finding is consistent with some previous studies.     

The psychologisation of employment relations,alternative models of the employment relationship,and the OB turn

As part of this journal's provocation series, John Godard criticised the psychologisation of human resource management and expressed concern with the psychologisation of employment relations. This article uses four explicit frames of reference on the employment relationship to further explicate Godard's concern with the distancing of the field from questions about the structural nature of the employment relationship. This discussion is then extended to consider the magnifying implications of the turn within the field toward organisational behaviour research. Ultimately, the complexity of work and employment means that the field needs to be vigilant in embracing not only multidisciplinary but also multiperspective approaches rather than letting the field become excessively unitary.     

Spatial distribution of the specialization of arts

The hypothesis is that the major source of concentration of arts in different regions is due to agglomeration effects of specialized talents, city size, income, and quality of life. Twenty-nine large metropolitan areas are ranked and assessed for enhancing the climate for arts activity. Data on metropolitan areas in the United States on cost of living, transportation, employment, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation, city size, and per capita income are used as explanations for predominance of art in the 29 metropolitan areas. The results indicate that cities with larger populations and higher per capita income have greater concentrations of artistic activity. Other explanatory variables include factors associated with the quality of life. (JEL RIO, R23)     

Collectivism versus individualism in Dutch employment relations

From a very centralistic and collectivistic tradition after World War Two, Dutch employment relations now show a trend towards radical decentralisation and individualisation. What might be the consequences of this trend for labour relations? Do developments still fit within a movement towards ‘organised decentralisation’ or will the existing system of labour relations be hollowed out and destroyed? And what will be the consequences for ER management at company level? We present empirical data on how companies deal with their decentralised and individualised employment relations. It appears that, in the main areas such as labour contracts, working time arrangements, reward systems and development plans, decentralisation and individualisation are taking place. It has also become clear that management as well as workers support this and that a new form of negotiation between them is developing at workplace level, resulting in what we call ‘third contracts’ that are additional to the initial labour contract and the collective agreement. Our results also highlight the pragmatic way in which companies deal with these decentralised and individualised employment relations, which, nevertheless, remain linked to the national and collective levels of bargaining. Within the multilevel system of Dutch employment relations a new balance between collectivism and individualism is emerging.     

The intensity of land use in urban employment sectors: Chicago 1956–1970

Net employment density and net floor space density (floor area ratio) in four employment sectors are examined for metropolitan Chicago in 1956 and 1970. The study also includes the formation and preliminary evaluation of a model of land-use intensity.     

An evaluation of public employment programmes in the East German State of Sachsen-Anhalt

In East Germany, active labour market policies (ALMPs) have been used on a large scale to contain the widespread unemployment that emerged after unification. This paper evaluates the effects for participants in public employment programmes (PEPs), an important component of ALMP in the East German States (Länder). The paper focuses on individual unemployment probabilities. By concentrating on the state of Sachsen-Anhalt, the econometric analysis can use a large new panel data set available only for that state, the Arbeitsmarktmonitor Sachsen-Anhalt (AMM-SA). We aim at nonparametric identification of the effects of PEPs by combining the use of comparison groups with differencing over time to correct for selection effects. Our results indicate that PEP participation reduces participants' probability of unemployment.     

A study of the employment system of Japanese multinational retailers in Hong Kong

This study examines the employment system of Japanese multinational retailing corporations in Hong Kong through two case companies - Morioka and Okadaya. The human resource management (HRM) practices- recruitment and selection, remuneration, and training and development - of the companies are studied. The different HRM practices applied to different groups of employees within each case company are compared using an employment systems model. The employment system is structured and multi-layered. The development of the structured employment system is then analysed in relation to the cultural and sectoral factors. It is shown that only the cultural characteristics of the Japanese parent companies can explain the ethnocentric management approach used in which Japanese personnel are employed in the internal labour marker (ILM) and local employees are employed outside the ILM. Economic and labour market conditions in both parent and host countries and sectoral characteristics have also contributed to the stratification of the employment system among the local employees. The implications of this study are that the long-term development of Japanese multinational retailers will be weakened if the structured employment system persists.     

Self-employment and job generation in metropolitan areas, 1969–2009

Many regional development policy initiatives assume that entrepreneurial activities promote economic growth. Empirical research has presented rationale for this argument showing that small firms create proportionally more new jobs than large firms. However, little research has been performed on the issue of net job generation at the urban level, particularly when self-employment is considered as an indicator of entrepreneurial activities. This paper investigates to what extent US metropolitan areas in the 1969–2009 period characterized by relatively high rates of self-employment also have shown relatively high rates of subsequent total employment growth. The analysis corrects for the influence of sectoral composition, wage level, educational attainment, presence of research universities and size of the metropolitan area to measure the extent to which the number and quality of self-employed in a region contribute to total employment growth. It finds the relationship between self-employment rates and subsequent total employment growth to be positive on average during the 40-year period but to weaken over time.     

The interaction of residential segregation and employment discrimination

This paper seeks to disentangle the impact of residential segregation from that of employment discrimination in determining black employment share. The major finding is that distance of a workplace from the main ghetto is one of the strongest and most significant determinants of both changes over time and levels of the racial composition of the workforce. This paper presents evidence of more heterogeneous micro labor supply within SMSAs than has usually been recognized for policy purposes. Comparing Chicago with Los Angeles, we find that distance from the ghetto has a stronger impact in Chicago, and that this effect increased during the late 1970s. By contrast, residential segregation is relatively less important in determining workplace demographics in Los Angeles, despite its rudimentary public transit system and prototypical job dispersion. In both cities, residential segregation strongly influences black employment patterns and limits the efficacy of efforts to integrate the workplace.     

Unemployment and employment offices’ efficiency: What can be done?

Regional employment offices provide placement services to job-seekers and employers and organize active labor market programs. In this paper, we carry out a quantitative evaluation of the employment offices’ performance in Switzerland based on production efficiency measures. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the performance of all employment offices and then account for factors in the local operating environment that are outside managerial control. This approach, and the ranking of employment offices, may easily be interpreted by policymakers and provides guidelines for raising the efficiency of the public employment service. Our findings suggest that there is considerable room for improved efficiency in employment service, which could lead to a lower level of structural unemployment. We also find that differences in the external operating environment have a significant influence upon the efficiency of employment offices.     

Conceptual approaches to the transfer of employment practices in multinational companies: an integrated approach

This article examines the transfer of employment practices across borders within multinational companies. We contrast market‐based, cross‐national comparative and micro‐political perspectives on this issue and argue for an integrated approach that focuses on interrelationships between markets and institutions on the one hand and the material interests of actors on the other. We develop this argument using data from a multi‐level case study of a multinational in the US and Britain.