ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the way in which the industrial composition and relative earnings of workers are changing in the central cities and suburbs of fourteen large metropolitan areas. In making comparisons among metropolitan areas and between central cities and suburbs, we look first at employment growth rates during the two periods and then at rates of job increase and job decrease. Earnings measures provide valuable insights into how city and suburban economies are faring. Agglomeration economies have long been recognized as important to the central city but their importance is less readily recognized in the case of suburbs. The analysis that follows seeks to identify major suburban economic agglomerations and to shed light on which among the business and financial services have tended to locate within these suburban centers. Paradoxically, the residence adjustment measure also declined in most suburbs, indicating a declining importance of outcommuter earnings as a source of income within these economies.
