Assisted industry, employment stability and industrial decline: Some evidence from Northern Ireland

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Abstract
Harrison R. T. (1982) Assisted industry, employment stability and industrial decline: some evidence from Northern Ireland, Reg. Studies 16, 267–85. This paper analyses the stability of employment created in manufacturing projects which have received industrial development assistance in Northern Ireland since 1945. The tacit assumption of previous studies that such employment will provide a stable alternative to declining employment in the linen and shipbuilding industries is questioned. It is demonstrated that non-indigenous assisted industry has declined more rapidly than has indigenous industry (both assisted and non-assisted) in the late 1970s, and that this decline has been most marked in those industry groups (textiles and engineering and metal goods) in which overall employment stability has been lowest. It is concluded that changing macro-economic circumstances and the relatively poor stability of the employment which has been created necessitate a reconsideration of the direction in which regional policy in the 1980s should proceed.