Welsh Journals

Issues and Developments in Planning in Wales: Edited by P. Cooke REDUNDANCY INCIDENCE IN WALES AND PfíELIMINAfíY fíESEAfíCH ON REDUNDANCY PROCESSES: AN OVEfíV/EW ROBERT F. IMRIE CAMBRIA Imrie, Robert F. 1986. Issues and developments in planning in Wales. Redundancy incidence in Wales and preliminary research on redundancy processes: An overview. Cambria Vol. 12(2) pp 225-244. ISSN 0306-9796. This paper describes the incidence of redundancy in Wales between 1978 and 1983. Comment is made on the general pattern of redundancy and on sectoral variations in redundancy incidence. However, it is argued that statistical descriptions of redundant incidence are inadequate as a means of both describing and explaining the complex determinants of redundancy. In order to illuminate this, preliminary survey findings on redundancy are presented that outline some of the inherent complexities associated with redundancy incidence. Robert F. Imrie, Department of Town Planning, UWIST, Aberconway Building, Colurnn Drive, Cardiff, CFl 3EU. (Accepted April 1985) Introduction Between 1979 to 1983, the number of employees in employment fell by over two million in the United Kingdom. In Wales, employment decline over the same period was in the order of 96000. The sudden increase in job losses prompted a number of industrial geographers to look at the nature and causes of compulsory redundancy (Martin 1982a, 1984; Townsend 1982, 1983). There are a number of reasons for this. First the number of redundancies generated by the recession is the worst on record (Martin 1984). Between 1977 and 1983, there were nearly two million confirmed redundancies in the U.K. alone, while, in Wales, there were 194291 redundancy notifications, more than in any other period in post war economic history. Moreover, both Martin and Townsend have claimed that redundancy lies at the core of the recession and was the main mechanism of job losses in the 1979-82 period (Martin 1982; Townsend 1981). While Meager and Martin have qualified this claim, by suggesting that redundancy is not as significant as first thought, the fact remains that the large volume of redundancies have been of major interest to industrial geographers (Martin 1984; Meager 1984). Second, compulsory redundancy generates distinctive labour market effects compared with other forms of job losses e.g. voluntary quits.