1 / 17

by James Newell and Kerry L. Papps

Identifying functional labour markets in New Zealand : A reconnaissance study using travel-to-work data. by James Newell and Kerry L. Papps Labour Market Policy Group, Department of Labour and Monitoring and Evaluation Research Associates (MERA). Objective.

estrella-gomez
Download Presentation

by James Newell and Kerry L. Papps

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Identifying functional labour markets in New Zealand : A reconnaissance study using travel-to-work data by James Newell and Kerry L. Papps Labour Market Policy Group, Department of Labour and Monitoring and Evaluation Research Associates (MERA) A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  2. Objective • This paper derives a preliminary classification of New Zealand into local labour market areas using area unit travel-to-work data from the 1991 Census. • Travel-to-work data record the location of residence and the location of employment of individuals and therefore provide some information about commuting patterns. • These can be used to form local labour markets that meet predetermined criteria. A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  3. Background - Origins • Department of Labour scoping study on regional migration and labour markets (Newell (2001)) saw as a prerequisite: • “identification of functional labour market areas as a framework for the serious study of migration and labour market interactions” • MERA search for functionally meaningful sub-national spatial frameworks for studying local social and economic development processes • Increase in the amount of research on sub-national migration in New Zealand. • This work needs some definition of what constitutes a labour market, e.g. Maré and Choy (2001). A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  4. Background - Applications • Looking at local development on a functionally-defined labour market area basis should help in : • the assessment of the effectiveness of regional development policies • the “vulnerability” of areas to particular types of labour market events or trends. • Offers a more easily replicable and standardisable spatial framework for comparisons of “regional” inequality across countries (if an existing approach taken). A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  5. Six criteria of Coombes et al. (1986) • Any regionalisation method should ensure that, in approximate order of importance, travel-to-work areas: • are sufficiently self-contained in terms of commuting flows; • have statistical viability in terms of stated definitional requirements of travel-to-work area size and self-containment; • are geographically reasonable across the whole country; • have been consistently defined from the same procedure; • achieve the maximum level of detail (i.e. produce as many travel-to-work areas as possible); • are based on a method derived from labour market theory. A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  6. Previous work : Three approaches to “regionalisation” outlined by Coombes (1996): • 1. Manual methods : links populous cities with their environs on the basis of commuting flows etc., however they are not geographically exhaustive, e.g. United States Metropolitan Area system • 2. Statistical methods : single procedure that aims to maximise criterion representing objectives, however they are devoid of labour market theory, e.g. INTRAMAX procedure • 3. “Hybrid” approach: based on theory while still using multi-step statistical methods, e.g. Coombes (1986): • We have taken the third approach. A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  7. Basic Method • 1. Select spatial units for the analysis (area units) • 2. Identify “primary” foci for the “regions” • 3. Progressively amalgamate the primary foci into clusters which meet minimum viability criteria • 4. Progressively assemble “proto” local labour market areas by grouping non-foci with foci clusters. • 5. Rationalise the proto LLMA clusters eliminating those that don’t meet viability criteria A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  8. 2. Identify “primary” foci for the “regions” • Criteria for inclusion as a focus for LLMA assembly - individual primary spatial units • meet the “job ratio” ratio criteria - ratio of locally based jobs to locally resident employed workers • Meet residential (supply side - outward trip generators) self containment limits • "Noise" filters - minimum population or workplace employment numbers A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  9. 3A. Progressively amalgamate the primary foci into clusters • Primary "foci" are ranked on the number of commuting inflows • In rank order, stepwise forced amalgamation until the current “focus cluster” meets minimum viability criteria • Viability criteria - residential and workplace self containment of the candidate “focus cluster” both reach a minimum level • Focus amalgamation criteria - merger of current and best matched of those possible merger partners based on “weighted interaction index” score A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  10. 3B. Progressively amalgamate the primary foci into clusters • Higher ranked focus absorbs lower ranked focus • Each “focus cluster” continues to amalgamate with other focus clusters until it is either • absorbed by another higher ranked focus, • achieves minimum viability, or • exhausts all amalgamation candidates which meet the minimum “weighted interaction index” score A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  11. Formation of LLMAs’ from foci clusters” and non-foci spatial units • 4. Assemble "proto-LLMAs’ by progressively grouping non-focus spatial units with foci clusters” • seeks further amalgamation of “focus clusters” • starts amalgamation of non-focus units with “focus clusters” • 5. Allocate residual AU’s to proto LLMA’s • Find best find for as yet unmatched AU’s • 6. Weed out those proto LLMA’s which don’t meet viability criteria - and reallocate spatial units to other proto-LLMAs A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  12. Translating and Implementing the Algorithm • 1991 Area Unit building blocks - fixed • “Prime” Foci - fixed • Foci “clusters” -Amalgamated foci - floating / not fixed • Proto-LLMA’s - floating / not fixed A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  13. Results - Sorting Process • 1716 1991 Area Units • 564 Primary Foci • ? “Foci Clusters” (prev method 210 clusters) • “Proto foci” A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  14. Results sought - “Local Labour Market Areas” (LLMA’s) • Self-containment of proto LLMA’s • LLMA Internal Consistency • Comparison with existing local authority and regonal boundaries for selected Regions • Basic Historical Labour Market / Demographic Attributes of LLMA’s A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  15. Other work still to do on this project • Sensitivity analysis • test robustness of classification with respect to self-containment level and population size criteria. • Assemble preliminary local labour market area statistical series • derive from existing area unit level statistical data • local employment and labour market history • “Community”, Population and migration history . A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  16. Implications of this project - Potential applications for this work • To provide an initial “working draft“ spatial unit of analysis for studies of local development and migration. • To produce estimates of local migration (and other) rates for regions on a (roughly) internationally-consistent basis. • To provide a framework for assessing the interaction between changes in local labour markets and local communities / populations • To identify “vulnerable” labour markets, i.e. those with a heavy reliance on one industry and a high proportion of low-skill workers. A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

  17. Directions for future work • Extension to dynamic framework - 1976-2001 Census Time harmonised spatial framework of successive travel-to-work data (constraints of the Small Domain Release Policy). • Comparison of results to obtain information about dynamic nature of local labour markets. • Explore differences in local labour market areas across subgroups, e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, education level. (Papps (2000) - migration differences) • Apply to local/regional case studies and projects • Improvements in the method used to make it more applicable to New Zealand, e.g. work of de Vries and Morrison. A Reconnaissance Study of New Zealand Functional Labour Market Areas PANZ 2001 Conference, 28 June 2001

More Related