In search of the skilled city: Skills and the occupational evolution of British cities
Recent research has argued that human capital has become the key driver of city growth and that there is a widening divergence between high- and low-skill cities. This skilled-city view includes several stylised propositions. The first is that more skills and human capital generate stronger economic...
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| Published in: | Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2020-01, Vol.57 (1), p.109-133 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Recent research has argued that human capital has become the key driver of city growth and that there is a widening divergence between high- and low-skill cities. This skilled-city view includes several stylised propositions. The first is that more skills and human capital generate stronger economic growth; the second is that already-skilled cities are becoming ever more skilled; and, the third is that larger cities tend to have stronger concentrations of, and faster growth in, high-skilled, cognitive occupations. Using a detailed data set for occupational change in 85 urban Travel to Work Areas in Britain between 1981 and 2015, this paper evaluates whether these propositions apply to British urban evolution, and how they relate to the ‘hollowing-out’ of medium-skilled jobs. The results confirm the close interactive relationship between growth and high-skilled occupations. However, some of the skilled-city propositions, such as ‘smart cities becoming smarter’, and a positive relationship between agglomeration and high-skilled employment growth, do not apply in Britain where other factors have been more important. The pattern of high-skill growth has shown a strong regional dimension, and the ‘emergence’ of newer smaller cities, particularly in southern England, has been more evident than the ‘resurgence’ of large core and industrial cities.
最近的研究认为，人力资本已成为城市增长的主要驱动力，高技能城市和低技能城市之间的差异正在扩大。这种“高技能城市观”包括几个程式化的命题。首先，更多的技能和人力资本产生更强劲的经济增长；第二，已经具备高技能的城市变得越来越高技能；第三，大城市的高技能、知识型职业往往集中度更高、增长更快。利用1981年至2015年期间英国85个城市通勤区（Travel to Work Area）的职业变化详细数据集，本文评估了这些命题是否适用于英国城市发展，以及它们与中等技能工作的“挖空”有何关联。结果证实了增长与高技能职业之间的密切互动关系。然而，一些“高技能城市”命题，例如“智慧城市变得更智慧”，以及集聚和高技能就业增长之间的正相关关系，并不适用于英国。在英国，其他因素更为重要。高技能增长模式显示出很强的区域性，新兴小城市的“崛起”（特别是在英格兰南部）比大型核心和工业城市的“复苏”更为明显。 |
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| ISSN: | 0042-0980 1360-063X |