Employment zones and local analysis of the work market - Until recently, the diverse statistics concerning employment and unemployment were not available in coherent regroupings below the level of the regional administrative division (département). Since 1983, a division of France into 365 «employment zones » has provided a common framework for studies of local work markets. These zones are the result of a compromise between economic realities and administrative constraints. A study of the flow into and out of unemployment brought into relief an opposition between urban regions, where there is an active work market, and rural regions, where the work market is stagnant. This opposition is seen again between employment zones inside the four r...