ABSTRACT
The East is a region occupying a quarter of the Netherlands and, with a labour force in excess of 200,000, its employment in manufacturing is equivalent in scale to that of South Holland. Although the comparison of regional and national employment structures provides a method of establishing some of the fundamental characteristics of manufacturing in the East, it must be recognised that the degree of generalisation involved obscures many significant intra-regional contrasts. North of the River District the industries of the Veluwe occupy a labour force of 60,000. Manufacturing is distributed sporadically around the Veluwe, and it is least intense on the western and northern edges. In the eastern Veluwe, in contrast, the majority of manufacturing is concentrated in Apeldoorn, where engineering and electrical industries account for half the industrial labour force. The final Gelderland sub-region, the Achterhoek, occupies a third of the province and lies in the east, between the River IJssel and the German border.
