Policy review section : Economic development in Northern Ireland : has Pathfinder lost its way?. Labour market accounts for travel-to-work areas, 1981-1984

In this Policy Review Section Paul Teague of the Cranfield School of Management presents an account of the economic development strategy of the Northern Ireland Department of Economic Development as set out in its strategy document entitled Pathfinder . Having reviewed the weaknesses of the Northern Ireland economy, Paul Teague criticizes what he regards as the narrow focus of the Pathfinder strategy. He argues that the emphasis on the creation of a self reliant economy is an unrealistic and overambitious goal and that rather more attention should be devoted to: attracting multinational companies and establishing better links between them and local companies; corss border economic collaboration; greater emphasis on direct employment measures; and a broader consideration of new forms of regional economic development taking place elsewhere in Europe and North America upon which policy makers could draw. In the second article, David Owen and Anne Green of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick set out the basis of a technique known as ‘labour market accounts' which seeks to highlight the various demographic and economic factors which lead to employment change in labour markets. As a technique this has considerable potential for policy makers and Owen and Green illustrate the point by operationalizing the technique for the 322 Travel-to-Work Areas in Britain for the period 1981–4