Työpaikkakehityksen alueelliset kehitysprosessit Itä-Suomessa 1994–2003

Abstract

This study explores how underlying factors associated with proximity to higher– tiered urban centres affected the geographical patterns of job growth in Eastern Finland by postcode areas in 1994–2003. Distance from an agglomeration of ≥ 20 000 inhabitants, and especially one of 45 000 inhabitants, negatively affected local growth in employment. Simulations of spatial growth in employment revealed that job creation in the post¬industrial stage of the economy is locked¬in to favouring centres as long as the competitiveness of the hinterlands in terms of labour characteristics and agglomeration economies is low. The disadvantages affecting rural areas will not disappear without fundamental changesin spatial coststructuresin relation to productivity. Investments in innovations, technologies, labour quality and skills, developing industries benefiting from rural economies and the promotion of life¬style changes could prevent rural job decline, while a more passive adaptation would be an increase in the flexibility of factor prices outside the higher–tiered urban centres, which would lead to better price competiveness and a higher demand for labour. As this will have side effects, investmentsin advanced economic activities and methods of working that can achieve higher productivity would be most beneficial in the long run for reducing the decline taking place outside the growth centres.