If you're someone who wants to work in showbiz, the thought of moving to NYC, LA, or Chicago has certainly crossed your mind. But is it really necessary to move to a big city if you want to make a living from your art? Well, according to agglomeration theory, yes.
Developed by geographer Allen Scott, agglomeration theory helps to explain why certain industries - including the entertainment industry - tend to consolidate in just a few select cities. The theory applies specifically to vertically disintegrated industries, those that subcontract the majority of their operations to freelance and part-time workers. Theatre is a great example of this because actors, directors, and crew all work under short-term contracts on a show by show basis. What follows is a brief summary of agglomeration theory I copped from an article by Jamie Peck.
Agglomeration economies feature five interrelated labor market conditions:
1. The greater the size of the local labor market, the higher the rate of labor turnover within the local industry. Thus, large, volatile labor markets provide a ready supply of workers who can be hired as and when they are needed.
2. In these large and volatile labor markets there also exists a large supply of alternative jobs, enabling workers to move from job to job rather easily and with shorter breaks between gigs. Soon, workers learn to accomodate this constant instability, and after learning the ropes they become much less likely to leave the agglomeration.
3. As the size of the local labor market increases, the time and effort it takes to search for a job gets easier. High rates of job changing and job filling place a premium on activities such as networking, word-of-mouth, and local trade publications. Local workers learn to find jobs by utilizing the knowledge of their peers.
4. Workers already accustomed to such labor conditions tend to be drawn into large, volatile labor markets, where their chances of finding work are highest. In turn, employers of such labor will likewise be attracted toward this abundant labor supply. Thus, a reciprocal relationship develops between the tendencies for firms to cluster around labor supplies and for workers to cluster around major centers of employment opportunities.
5. Processes of local socialization will tend to reinforce agglomeration tendencies, as workers get used to particular work rhythms (such as "pilot season") and as they develop strategies to cope with the realities of contingent work. Over time, patterns and processes of labor market behavior become socially embedded and, to a certain extent, self-perpetuating.
So there's agglomeration in a nutshell. Class dismissed.
References
Peck, Jamie. 1992. "Labor and Agglomeration: Control and Flexibility in Local Labor Markets." Economic Geography 68: 325-347.
Scott, Allen. 1988. New Industrial Spaces: Flexible production organization and regional development in North America and Western Europe. London: Pion.
Comments (1)
Great, Brant. Now I have to move back to New York. Jerk.
Posted by Ian | December 11, 2007 7:53 PM
Posted on December 11, 2007 19:53