Regional Changes in the Trade Specialization and Distribution of the Trade Employees in Miyagi Prefecture

Abstract

The writer analyzed various aspects of the regional changes in trade specialization and distribution of the trade employees in cities, towns and villages of Miyagi prefecture from 1960 to 1970. The results are summarized as follows.(1) All the cities, towns and villages can be classified into two groups, developed or less developed as for the trade by the index of the coefficient of specialization.Number of trade employees in each city, town and village/Number of industry employees in each city, town and village/Number of trade employees all Japan/Number of industry employees all Japan=coefficient of specialization(2) The larger are cities and towns, the less is the change rate of the coefficient of specialization and the change rate of the share occupied by trade (retail and wholesale) employees in all employees.(3) Considering the combination of the change rates in total population, number of manufacturing industry employees and number of trade employees between 1960 and 1970, we can distinguish following four regional patterns in Miyagi prefecture.Type A: All the rates increased. Sendai and its neighboring cities and towns, Ishinomaki and Kesennuma Cities belong to this type.Type B: Trade and manufacturing industry employees increased while total population decreased. This type includes such regional trade centers as Furukawa, Shiroishi, Kakuda and Hazama.Type C: Only trade employees increased though total population and manufacturing industry employees decreased. Small regional trade centers in rural region are included in this type.Type D : All the rates decreased. This type is found in towns and villages in the less developed region in the mountains and along the Pacific coast.(4) There is rather conspicuous trend that the number of the trade employees increased in adjusted proportion to the total population. However, this relationship is occasionally false. For example, the trade shops and their employees along the highways increased even in the rural regions where total population considerably decreased.