Two become one : the integration of male and female labour markets in the English and Welsh coalfields

Two become one: the integration of male and female labour markets in the English and Welsh Coalfields, Regional Studies. This paper explores the extent to which the labour markets for men and women are becoming integrated as a single entity. It does so in the specific context of the English and Welsh coalfields, where major job losses in the coal industry fell almost exclusively on men. Using data from 1981 to 2008, the paper presents ‘labour market accounts’ for the coalfields that reveal changing female labour force participation and employment, and it compares these trends with those among men in the same places. Evidence emerges of two relatively independent labour markets – male and female – operating in the 1980s in the same geographic space. However, over time a degree of integration appears to have occurred. As a result, women increasingly have to compete with men for the same jobs and a greater proportion of new job opportunities in the former coalfields are now going to men

Making the difference A new start for England's coalfield communities

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:GPE/3904 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

‘With a little help from our friends’: The role of new solidarities and alliances in the remaking of Warsop Vale

This article comprises a longitudinal study of community activism and regeneration following pit closure in the small Nottinghamshire ex-mining village of Warsop Vale. Based on more than a hundred interviews carried out between 1998 and 2004, the article highlights the significance of ‘new’ solidarities and alliances between residents and external agencies in the gradual revitalisation of a community once teetering on the brink of extinction

Community economic development in urban and regional regeneration: unfolding potential or justifiable scepticism?

In this paper I explore the scale of community economic development (CED) and the barriers impacting upon its evolution within an English region -- Yorkshire and The Humber. CED has been widely perceived by a range of policymakers as one mechanism through which to moderate the scale of economic decline in more disadvantaged localities. A number of funding sources, and in particular European Structural Funds, have increasingly allocated resources to creating and sustaining CED projects. But evidence from this region points to a very limited population of community businesses which undertake trading activities. Moreover, the sector is bedevilled by a series of constraints including those revolving around finance and partnership working. A number of policy developments could enhance the status and sustainability of CED projects, including a more structured approach towards the funding and operation of intermediary agencies. Even then, CED is likely to prove only a marginal player in economic reconversion. The scale of market failure in 'CED localities' points to the need for a more interventionist and collective approach to regeneration.</p