Labour Market Areas in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the article is to delineate Labour Market Areas (LMAs) in Poland with the use of the European version of the Travel to Work Areas (EU-TTWA) methodology that was developed under Eurostat auspices. We received over 300 areas that consist of LAU-2 units (gminas) – the smallest administrative regions in Poland. We discuss Poland-specific results and problems. We compare numbers of LMAs in countries with EU-TTWA-delineated LMAs in relation to population density, total population and area. We propose the taxonomic rank method to select the parameter values for the EU-TTWA algorithm. LMAs may deliver useful spatial information, although one needs to account for their heterogeneity.