ABSTRACT
Deindustrialisation, decentralisation and the growth of the 'sunbelt cities' Parallel with these developments has been the continuation of two major processes - deindustrialisation and decentralisation. Although the shift from manufacturing and service employment has taken place throughout most of the twentieth century, many commentators have argued that the process has accelerated in recent years. Bacon and Eltis (1976) have argued that this process has taken place at a faster rate in Britain than other advanced economies. Thus, between 1961 and 1974 the numbers employed in manufacturing fell by 13 per cent, whilst the size of the public sector grew by over a third. In the early 1980s manufacturing has virtually collapsed in many areas of Britain, but there has been insufficient expansion of the services, either in the public or private sectors, to curb the dramatic increase in unemployment.
