Regionale Bevölkerungsentwicklung in Frankreich: eine Untersuchung auf der Ebene der zones d'emploi

Abstract

The paper studies the regional demographic trends in France from 1968 to 1990. This study is based on a concept using zones d'emploi (labour market regions) as regional analysis units instead of régions de programmes or départements as usually done in other studies. The 348 zones d'emploi are functional units based on commuter flows. The study follows two main objectives: (1) Analysis of the main regional migration and population trends over the three census periods from 1968 to 1990. (2) Analysis of the growth trends of different types of regions on the basis of typifying the zones d’emploi (labour market regions) according to economic criteria and settlement structure criteria. The large-scale pattern of the population and population trends. Owing to the stronger growth of the rural zones d'emploi after 1975, the growth figures are rather suggestive of deconcentration trends. In the 80ies, however, the demographic trends were rather indicative of concentration trends: there has been a disproportionate growth in the regional metropolises and in the area around Paris. Additional indicators such as the employment trend and the business formation rate underline the dominance of concentration trends. That dominance of concentration trends on the inter-regional level in France is in accordance with studies which consider the large agglomeration areas to be the "winners" of the emerging European Union internal market. migration trends seem to be relatively stable in comparison to the massive change in the general economic and political framework in France and Western Europe. For instance, more than 60% of the zones d'emploi (labour market regions) have steadily shown either migration losses or migration gains over the three census periods. The different region types, however, show more distinct changes. The zones d'emploi (labour market regions) with a tertiary sector specialisation show a higher population growth than mainly industrial regions. Some agricultural regions obtained migration gains. But these influxes are often not linked with a corresponding job displacement. Using settlement structure types gives different results in the migration.