Medium-sized cities of Northeast: brief considerations about dynamics and challenges in post 1990

Abstract

The trade and financial openness in the first half of the decade of 1990 stabilized national economy. Within this context, the restructuring process has promoted a new locational reconfiguration of national industry. Brazilian Northeast was one of the regions that benefited from this industrial decentralization period (1970-1985). The focus of this article is based on a descriptive analysis, the dynamism of formal employment in medium-sized cities in the Northeast, checking its quantitative changes in employment. To achieve this objective, we used data from the Annual Social Information (in Portuguese, “Relação Anual de Informações Sociais” – RAIS), as well as the population census of 1991, 2000, and 2010. Conclusively, this study showed that Northeast benefited from the restructuring of production and industrial decentralization in Southeast, as well as from fiscal and financial policies promoted by state and local governments, allowing the installation of new stores in Northeastern medium-sized cities.