Intrametropolitan Employment Deconcentration and its Impact on Commuting Distances

Intrametropolitan déconcentration of employment, a strong trend since the fifties, has greatly intensified in the last few years. During the 1960's the suburban share of total metropolitan employment in the fifteen largest SMSAs rose from 37 to 48 percent, and from 1960 to 1970 job losses in the nation's central cities surpassed total losses for the preceding half century. Since 1970 the trend toward employment dispersal has accelerated, and in 1973 the suburbs overtook the central cities in total number of jobs. While accuracy and quality of information on employment déconcentration varies, a reliable recent report for the New York-Northern New Jersey metropolis captures the essence of this ongoing change in metropolitan economic geography: