Contenu du sommaire : Emploi public et dynamiques urbaines

Currently public sector employment is being affected by new economic logics. The building of Europe, based on ideas of a free market and competition, is in contradiction with the monopoly position of the public sector and the traditional ways in which the state functions. In addition, these ideas are in opposition with notions of territorial solidarity and equity which are also fundamental characteristics of the public sector. This question of the interrelationships between economy and territory, using the example of public sector employment, is all the more important when the territories in question are in a weak position, located on the fringes of large metropolitan regions.

This article describes the principal characteristics of public sector employment in the Rhône-Alpes Region. Such employment is viewed in terms of its role both within the general pattern of employment and within the main urban areas. Details are also provided of the main official statistical sources which currently exist to measure local public sector employment.

Public sector employment in medium-sized towns (whether they lie within the sphere of influence of a metropolitan area or on its margins, as in the case of Lyon) are likely to experience changes determined by the development of the towns and by the appearance of a new paradigm regulating salaries. These changes are taking place in association with the emergence of a new economic processes. Analysis of the dynamics of the spatial characteristics of employment in the civil service and in state employment in hospitals emphasises two main trends relating to various factors. In the first place it sems that the growth of public sector employment in urban areas depends more on the local journey-to-work areas than on administrative hierarchies. It is only when using general quantitative criteria such as the distribution of civil service employment that a functional division based on urban areas emerges ; more detailed analysis reveals a different classification. Secondly, a general tendency is apparent in the public sector, which is also a feature of the economy as a whole, namely a structural increase in the proportion of qualified employment as well as in the number of insecure jobs - this insecurity anses from an increase in jobs without permanent status and/or part-time jobs. However, contrary to what an initial analysis might suggest, this general tendency only partially reduces the specificities of the urban areas which feature in the study.

information from the 1975 and 1990 population censuses. Results from the departments of the Drôme and the Ardèche raise the question of whether the operation of the labour market is being increasingly determined by sectoral differences ; in 1990 the characteristics of services had much more importance than the distinction between public and private sector jobs. Such a hypothesis suggests that the two labour markets function in a similar manner.

In the marginal mountainous regions of the departments of the Ardèche and the Drôme, population and activities are concentrated in the urban centres. Public sector jobs play a key role in the development of these towns and in the spatial organisation of the territoy. Such employment provides these isolated regions with a public service and is one of the last remaining elements which structure this space. As such the state retains an important means of intervention in theses rural

ABSTRACT Public sector employment in medium-sized towns (whether they lie within the sphere of influence of a metropolitan area or on its margins, as in the case of Lyon) are likely to experience changes determined by the development of the towns and by the appearance of a new paradigm regulating salaries. These changes are taking place in association with the emergence of a new economic processes. Analysis of the dynamics of the spatial characteristics of employment in the civil service and in state employment in hospitals emphasises two main trends relating to various factors. In the first place it sems that the growth of public sector employment in urban areas depends more on the local journey-to-work areas than on administrative hierarchies. It is only when using general quantitative criteria such as the distribution of civil service employment that a functional division based on urban areas emerges ; more detailed analysis reveals a different classification. Secondly, a general tendency is apparent in the public sector, which is also a feature of the economy as a whole, namely a structural increase in the proportion of qualified employment as well as in the number of insecure jobs - this insecurity anses from an increase in jobs without permanent status and/or part-time jobs. However, contrary to what an initial analysis might suggest, this general tendency only partially reduces the specificities of the urban areas which feature in the study.

Overall, public sector employment in the hospital plays a significant role in the economy of the Roanne area which has lost 10,000 jobs over the past twenty years. However, after a sharp rise in the 60s and 70s, hospital staff numbers have changed little since 1982. In terms of quality, the evolution of such employment has not meant any social changes in the configuration of the social labour market and the quest for efficiency has neither led to subcontracting non- medical work nor to using temporary or contract labour. Instead, since 1990, Roanne General Hospital has been developing a policy which integrates people in difficulty by resorting to 1 'solidarity-employment contracts". The outcome of this policy, which has reinforced the essential social mission of the hospital, reveals the need for developing further the partnership with local industry and social services.

Within all the communes studied the number of jobs in the post office has changed little, independent of evolution of the economy. If such a situation has little impact on dynamic towns, this is not the case for small communes in rural areas or in recession. Post office employment, therefore, by the presence and the activity it creates, can limit the effects of recession, even if it only represents a small proportion of total employment in the area. As jobs in the post office form an increasing part of the active population in the most depressed zones, might they not represent a means by which to reinforce economic activity in these marginalised areas ?

In spite of the administrative unity of the Postmasters' corps, the work of Postmaster is very varied : thanks to the post office network, the postmaster is in contact with the users nationwide. What are the very various integration modes of postmasters in the local environment of the post office ? How should they be studied, and with which criteria ? This question allows us to specify the local role of the postmasters, in two rural departments, the Eure and the Lozère. The professional and geographical career- paths show how much they are the essential criteria of the postmaster's integration and the extent to which they are deep-rooted in the rural environment.