La plate-forme du développement régional en Suisse

Geography of new employment dynamics in Europe

The free movement of labour is one of the basic cornerstones of the EU. Up until the economic crisis in 2008, labour mobility in Europe has generally been rather low. However, in the wake of the economic crisis, labour migration has started to rise, mainly due to the fact that Europeans are ever more willing to relocate to seek employment opportunities. This has led to increasing numbers of migrants, particularly young people, moving both between regions within countries and between countries, resulting in new patterns of migration, new diasporas, and the phenomenon of ‘brain drain’.
Current EU Cohesion Policy has a very strong emphasis on research, innovation and information and communications technology sectors as a priority means for generating growth, investment and jobs. The current focus on these ‘knowledge economy’ sectors therefore has an inherent and understandable tendency towards urban regions as the primary engines of growth as such regions offer the essential milieus for innovation and dense collaboration linkages, high levels of social capital and good physical accessibility etc. These attributes are typically located in technologically more advanced regions where sufficient agglomerations of knowledge activities are present. At the same time, however, Cohesion Policy also aims to reduce economic, social and territorial disparities across the EU and bolster the economic performance of lagging regions, reduce uneven territorial
development and promote economic convergence.
The geography of new post-crisis employment dynamics and the unbalanced spatial distribution of new employment opportunities are therefore undoubtedly having significant territorial impacts which is likely to have important implications for future EU cohesion and investment policies
The purpose of this project is to explore the current dynamics within Europe’s regions in order to unpack the key policy factors, trends and territorial endowments driving the locational preferences of new employment creation. It shall further draw out the key policy lessons for Cohesion Policy in addressing the apparent contradictory forces and tensions at play in promoting knowledge economy sectors as a key pathway for growth and the impact for territorial cohesion.

Durée du projet
01.05.2016 - 31.12.2017
Instrument de financement
à fonds perdu
Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale
Partager l'article