The evolution of Local Labour Market Areas in contrasting regions

Abstract

In many local labour markets across Europe and elsewhere, a rapidly growing minority of workers are making long commuting trips. One consequence for research into journey-to-work flows which seeks to identify the boundaries of local labour market areas (LLMAs), is that these boundaries represent a ‘snap shot’ of an increasingly volatile pattern. In fact, it remains an unmet challenge for regional science to represent the way commuting patterns are evolving. Is it sufficient to simply update maps, using a consistent method which is then applied to successive ‘snap-shot’ datasets? This approach will be illustrated in contrasting regions. On the other hand, are there alternative forms of analysis better able to identify areas where change has been greater – or less – than elsewhere? The paper will end with some explorations in pursuit of this aim.