THE OPERATION OF REGIONAL LABOR-MARKETS FOR HIGHLY TRAINED MANUFACTURING WORKERS IN THE UNITED-STATES

This paper analyzes the spatial structure of the labor market for highly trained labor employed in manufacturing industry in 1980. The locus of activity for this labor force is California-Metropolitan California in particular. Cities in the traditional manufacturing belt, such as Chicago and Detroit, also have a significant number of highly trained workers. The analysis confirms that this occupational group is concentrated at the metropolitan level, and that the degree of concentration is increasing. We examine the main dynamics of this labor market by isolating a primary circuit of labor flows. This primary circuit is made up of the metropolitan areas that have unusually large numbers of highly trained manufacturing labor. The study analyzes the intermetropolitan migration behavior of these workers using two sets of Poisson regression spatial interaction models and reveals that eastern metropolitan areas function as important nodes of dispersal. In contrast, this labor force is becoming increasingly concentrated in western metropolitan areas. © 1991 by V. H. Winston & Son, Inc. All rights reserved.