100

The purpose of this paper is to show that current changes in the labour market are also influenced by spatial logics. Space is not neutral and the strategies of firms take this into account, especially as regards employment. Globalisation does not erase territory, but reveals it. It deeply affects the structure of exchanges, including a growing fragmentation of productive processes, and with a new spatial and cognitive division of work characterised by a polarisation of highly qualified activities in the Triad countries. It is not however synonymous with standardization, but with spatial and social segregation. The logics of globalisation respond to the attractions of different territories, each with its own particular potential, able to evolve in space and time. Among those resources capable of bringing value to a territory, the work force, more precisely in terms of its competence and skills, can constitute a highly prized quality. Too often neglected in recent years by specialists in industrial economy and innovation, these resources being again recognisedfor their historic relevance, in terms of their adaptive capacity.