Disparités locales du revenu d'emploi au sein du champ métropolitain de Québec Le rôle des navettes vers les pôles d'emploi (1980- 2000)

This paper documents the issue of territorial income disparities at a small spatial scale, which are often more marked than at larger scales. It assesses, by means of multiple regression analysis, the 1980-2000 evolution of spatial and structural factors on averages of employment income disparities between municipalities located in the influence area (i.e., metropolitan field) of a small Canadian metropolitan region : the Quebec City census metropolitan area. Overall, the results corroborate the importance of commuting toward metropolitan and non-metropolitan job centres, and highlight the very strong influence of structural variables like the level of schooling. Finally, this paper highlights the growing influence of non-metropolitan poles (even the smallest ones) and of the remoteness to principal axes of communication on the evolution of local income disparities in the Quebec City metropolitan field.