Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
predominance there of older industries, many of them based on iron and steel and
now literally and economically rusting away) to the “Sunbelt”: a move from
harsh climates and industrially polluted landscapes, to areas with better quality
of life, such as California and the South (Glickman & Glasmeier 1989). A
similar explanation can be given for the rise of industry along the Mediterranean
coasts, such as that of Spain (Morris 1992b).
Table 5.1
Employment in manufacturing as a percentage of all employment in various
developed countries by year.
1
955
1
966
1
981
1
992
Austria
29.8
29.8
29.7
25.6
Finland
21.3
22.8
26.1
19.3
France
26.9
28.7
25.1
25.5
Germany
33.8
35.2
36.7
33.6
Italy
20.0
25.8
26.1
22.1
UK
36.1
34.8
26.4
26.2
New Zealand
23.7
25.4
25.7
16.4
Australia
29.6
28.6
19.4
14.5
USA
28.5
27.8
21.7
17.0
Canada
24.1
23.9
19.4
14.6
Japan
1
8.4
2
4.4
2
4.8
2
4.4
Source:
OECD reports, UN Statistical Yearbooks
In any case, there seems to be no reason that many of these shifts should not
be permanent. What the movement out of manufacturing industry does leave
behind is a well of human skills, of organizations, and in fortunate cases, of
institutional and company bases and home offices, which do not disappear when
lower cost labour for simple operations can be found elsewhere, or when a
physical resource is exhausted.
Services as an engine of growth
In the modern world, of course, the production of services, personal, business,
financial and administrative, is considered of equal value to the production of
goods. Under the old thinking, a manufacturer of rubber tyres was making
something that could be sold abroad and earn profits for the company and foreign
exchange for the country. The banker who supplied the tyre manufacturing
company with credit for his export operations was an accessory to the central
function. Today, in many West European countries, the service sector, especially
such activities as banking, are working as the exporters, supplying credit and
financial services worldwide, while such goods as rubber tyres are accessories
which are used by the workers and managers of the financial sector. To use the
