TY - UNPB M1 - master AV - public ID - theses_frw3674 TI - Readjusting Stereotypes: The Regional Employment Effects of Shrinking Areas in Groningen N2 - Within the province of Groningen, it appears as if the city of Groningen and the rural areas are moving in opposite demographic directions. While the city is expected to grow, most rural municipalities have been branded as shrinking areas by the government. This thesis investigates whether the demographic characteristics of these shrinking areas also cause the employment in these areas to shrink. After conducting three levels of analysis, GIS analysis, sector analysis and regression analysis, I find that these characteristics do influence employment, but not uniformly in the direction that I hypothesized. A declining population size and lower level of urbanization are correlated with a lower number of jobs, while ageing is positively correlated with the number of jobs, especially jobs in what is called the ?nurturing economy?. Overall, I conclude that the negative effects of these demographic characteristics have not led to a decline of the employment in shrinking areas over my study period but did lead to a lower growth of the employment compared to non-shrinking areas. UR - https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/3674/ A1 - Weerd, Milan de Y1 - 2021/// EP - 60 ER -