Employees' Experience of New Factories in North East England; Survey Evidence on Some Implications of British Regional Policy

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Abstract
In contrast with many surveys of the movement of industry conducted exclusively through management, this study was conducted principally through interviews with employees at new factories, focussing on their experience and labour market behaviour, and thereby reveals relatively unknown implications of British regional policy. It is also unusual for a survey of workers to concentrate exclusively on people who have changed jobs, whether voluntarily or not. Recruitment by plants new to the North East must be seen within the context of employees' complex labour market behaviour, but many aspects of the process are conditioned by the plants' relatively high demand for semiskilled labour. Recruits show rational behaviour and high occupational and industrial mobility within the limitations of restricted travel to work areas and a restricted flow of information about the new jobs. Several aspects of the jobs themselves appear disappointing when set against implicit assumptions and hopes in regional policy.