Changes in the Urban System

Abstract

For a nation frequently chastised for its inertia, it is salutary to be reminded that Britain has just experienced two decades of almost unprecedented social and economic change. As the spectre of mass unemployment once again rears its head, it is important to realise that conditions are very different from those prevailing in the 1930s. In the post-war period, particularly since 1960, there has been a massive transfer of employment opportunities from manufacturing to services, from the private to the public sector, from manual to white-collar jobs, and from jobs for men to jobs for women. Notwithstanding these structural shifts there has also been an almost unabated rising trend in unemployment as the growth of employment opportunities has failed to keep pace with the growth in the supply of labour. In spite of this there has been an overall increase in material standards of living, reflected in such indicators as substantial increases in car and home ownership.