Agro-Industrial Chains and Productive Vocation of Intermediate Cities in Uruguay: An Employment Approach

This study aims to identify the productive configuration (agro) of Uruguayan intermediate cities (ciu, for its acronym in Spanish), studying the specialization and diversification of employment in order to understand the development processes registered in the territory and the employ­ment demands associated. In particular, the objective is to find patterns of diversification or concentration of economic activities from employment data in five agro-industrial productive chains (cpa, for its acronym in Spanish): forestry, soybeans, rice, beef, and milk. Specializa­tion and diversification indicators were constructed using the Continuous Households Survey of Uruguay, excluding Montevideo and its metropolitan area. Of the 44 cities analyzed, 32 presented a specialization coefficient above the economy average in the cpa mentioned, which indicates that the ciu depend significantly on these activities. Subsequently, cities were classified and identified in the following categories: cities with a strong presence of public administra­tion activities and associated with the State services; others cities with a productive vocation associated with the intensive management of natural resources or the transformation of raw materials and inputs; a group of cities specialized in the provision of transversal services, and others with dedication to tourist services.