Conclusion: We should be careful in assuming a linear relationship between a place’s urbanity and its economic opportunities 🏙️ 🏡, but studying the quality of employment change can add valuable insights about regionally diverging life chances.

The largest job gains in the top quintile: Eichstätt (+17pp), Böblingen (+14pp), Heilbronn (+13pp). The largest losses in the top quintile: Saalekreis (-5pp), Greiz/Gera (-5pp), Elbe-Elster (-5pp).

But: urban–rural divide in Germany interacts with east–west and north–south divides. While southern Germany has gained high-wage jobs at above-average rate, many eastern and northw. districts struggle to keep up with nat. employment upgrading.

As a result, by 2019, 30% of jobs in big cities belonged to highest paid occupations, while this share is less than 15% in rural districts - here, the majority of people works in lowest paid jobs.

Findings: Yes, employment upgrading (more high-wage jobs) between 1993 and 2019 was much stronger in urban areas. Rural regions lag behind, especially in east and northw. Germany.

Using a 2% sample of individuals registered in the German social security system (@iabnews.bsky.social 👏), I track employment change across wage-based quintiles. This tells us which regions have seen growth/decline in (high-paying) jobs.

With subnational economic inequality on the rise, we see lively discussions about the divide between thriving cities and the "left-behind" countryside. Looking at employment change in 330 German districts over nearly three decades, I argue that this view may be too simplistic.

Its not just literature ;) www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/s...