LABOR-FORCE SKILLS AND HUMAN-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - A LOCAL ECONOMY PERSPECTIVE

The treatment of training and skill issues in much of the recent empirical work within the HRM tradition, tends to be highly aggregated and schematic. Few studies have sought systematically to explore in detail the impact of key economic forces and agencies on the generation and reproduction of labour force skills over time, Aims to plug that gap, by examining the skill-upgrading strategies of certain key actors - local based firms, new firm entrants, and the local state - in a local economy undergoing major structural change. Concludes that the specificities of a particular region, in terms of the nature of local labour Pools and the configuration of institutional forces, can have a significant influence on the emergent character of HRM strategies, and their impact on labour force skills.