Marshallian agglomeration, labour pooling and skills matching

Corradini, Carlo; Morris, David; Vanino, Enrico

Abstract

Better skills matching has long been proposed as one of the key advantages of agglomeration economies. Yet, support for this improved matching has remained largely founded upon indirect proxies for skills such as wages and education. This paper contributes to the literature by offering novel empirical evidence on the relationship between specific measures of localised skills deficiencies and agglomeration economies, in the form of industrial density. Developing an instrumental variable approach and controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and other region-industry idiosyncratic effects across a panel dataset for the period 2009-2019 in England and Wales, our analysis reveals a positive effect of agglomeration economies in reducing both skills gaps within the employed workforce and skills shortages in the labour market external to the firm. We consider these findings in the context of persistent regional imbalances and the importance of strengthening skills provision within current regional industrial strategies.

Citation

Corradini, C., Morris, D., & Vanino, E. (2025). Marshallian agglomeration, labour pooling and skills matching. Cambridge Journal of Economics, Article beaf010. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/beaf010

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 5, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Mar 25, 2025
• Publication Date: Mar 25, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 26, 2027
• Journal: Cambridge Journal of Economics
• Print ISSN: 0309-166X
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-3545
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Article Number: beaf010
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/beaf010
• Keywords: Skills matching; Skills gaps; Skills shortage vacancies; Agglomeration; Labour market pooling
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/45593440
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/cje/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cje/beaf010/8093102?searchresult=1