ABSTRACT
Shortage of employment opportunities may be a problem of rural and urban regions alike, but the forms it takes are different, and the difference between the two in average incomes may remain wide. This chapter considers the differences in the fertility of the population as a reason; another reason is difference in the rate of growth of demand for labour. Growth of basic employment in a region can usefully be approached by way of three questions: what are its basic industries; what is happening to employment in those industries in the country as a whole; and are the region's industries gaining or losing in competition with the similarly classified activities in other regions. The persistence over long periods of faster growth and higher incomes in one region than in others, there is another set of considerations to be taken into account – 'cumulative and circular causation'.
