Trajectory and functional coevolution of employment in Chilean cities

The economic transformations that have occurred in recent times have had an impact on the structure of urban labor markets in cities, generating changes in their functional profile. This paper focuses on the economic changes that took place during 1982 2017 in the Chilean city system, with the purpose of understanding the economic trajectories of the main cities of the country, and the economic areas where the most relevant changes have taken place. By means of data on the employment of the cities, a principal component analysis was applied. In this way, the results express a similar functional coevolution in the set of cities of Chile, characterized by the homogenization towards the sectors of construction, real estate and commerce, in addition to the decrease of employment in the primary sector, public administration and the area industrial. Finally, emphasis is placed on the need for the implementation of targeted public policies that consider such processes.