ABSTRACT
New forms of under-employment are emerging as well as new forms of economic and labour weakness. In the last decade or so economic geography and, specifically industrial geography, has witnessed a move towards explanatory accounts that emphasize social and cultural context. The theoretical and methodological approach paves the way for a perspective on industrial unemployment emphasising precisely those dimensions that conventional economic analyses do not explain. De-regulation does not necessarily enhance the free working of productive and market forces, but moves the problem of industrial unemployment from a collective to an individual level. The study of industrial unemployment through an institutionalist perspective paves the way for a re-thinking of policy measures to tackle the problem. Prevailing institutional arrangements relating to the employment relation also explain variations in employment performance at the aggregate level under the same recessive conditions. A plurality of interventions could stimulate demand as a source of employment opportunities.
