Examining 1991 travel-to-work patterns in the Belfast Urban Area as a context for urban employment policy

This paper looks at the locations and occupations of jobs taken by resident s of socially deprived areas in Belfast using travel-to-work data from the 1991 Census of Population. It also examines the locations and occupations o f jobs taken by residents of other parts of Belfast and Northern Ireland as part of the wider context. These data are used as a background for the dis cussion of the spatial targeting of jobs to areas of social deprivation and high unemployment. Although policies of this kind are increasingly importa nt in Northern Ireland and in other parts of the UK, the analysis highlight s two important problems. First, the well-known problem of 'spatial leakage ' means that not all jobs located in deprived areas, particularly those in professional occupations, go to local residents. Secondly, residents of soc ially deprived areas have a greater representation in non-professional occu pations in comparison with those who Live in non-deprived locations. The im plications of these findings are twofold. First, spatial units for labour m arket interventions might be more appropriately delimited to take account o f observed travel-to-work flows. Secondly, to maximize job uptake by local residents of deprived areas, the jobs located there might be 'appropriate' in terms of existing occupational structures of the residents. However, thi s second recommendation might reinforce existing spatial and occupational d ivisions in the labour market since socially deprived areas could become, i n a worst-case scenario, 'sinks' for low-grade employment. Because of this potential danger, supply-side education and training measures are also appr opriate, as a supplement to job location policies, to enable residents of d eprived locales to compete for a wider range of jobs wherever they are loca ted. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.