Affiliations: Unit for Coordination of Territorial Statistics, Statistics Portugal, 1000-043 Lisboa, Portugal
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Elsa Soares, Unit for Coordination of Territorial Statistics, Statistics Portugal, Av. António José de Almeida, 1000-043 Lisboa, Portugal. Tel.: +351 218 440 493; E-mail: [email protected].
Note: [1] This paper was developed under the Project Data collection for sub-national statistics Labour Market Areas, No. 08141.2015.001-2015.502, supported by Eurostat, European Commission.
Note: [2] The results presented are preliminary of the ongoing project.
Abstract: The notion and definition of Labour Market Areas (LMA) has been internationally debated, especially in the OECD and Eurostat context. This interest derives from the need to identify new functional spatial units which are economically integrated and within which residents can find jobs based on a reasonable commuting effort. The aim of this paper is firstly to evidence the importance of defining functional regions by summarizing its conceptual and methodological background and some of its implications for the development of both geographical theory and practice. Secondly to present the Portuguese experience of defining LMA (or Functional Urban Regions – FUR) by comparing the methodology and the results obtained with national and Eurostat approaches.
Keywords: Functional region, Labour Market Areas, travel to work areas, self-containment
