| Labour market disparities have increased over recent years and can be seen between countries, and even within the most prosperous countries. In many countries, local economic development is regarded as an appropriate way to reduce inequalities in regional unemployment. However, little is known about the effectiveness of this strategy, among other things, how it can create quality jobs in less favoured regions. This research looks at the components of economic development aimed at employment in regions which are far away from large centres and which are sparsely populated.The results support the institutionalist approach and the lessons drawn from the field of political economy according to which conflicts and power cannot be dissociated from reality. The results also show the relevance of a multidisciplinary methodology and of the use of various sources of data.We suggest that the industrial relations field should refer to these results in order to develop a more aggressive discourse against neoliberalism and influence public policies with regard to employment and the reduction of social inequalities.Key-words: Regional disparities, employment, economic development, less favoured regions, outlying regions.The review of the literature on theories of regional economic development led us to the disciplines of geographical economy and economic geography. This analysis was fruitful but did not adequately respond to our research issues, in particular with regard to labour force and employment theories, and their implementation in outlying regions. Thus, we put forward an exploratory model inspired by the institutionalist approach, which takes account of political economy criticisms. To validate this new model, we examined eight economic sectors of the ACCORD project in five outlying regions of Quebec. ACCORD is a government program aimed at improving regional economic development, based on the literature of industrial "clusters."... |
