This network gives the Region a well-balanced urban framework. This partly reflects territorial inequalities in employment terms. The total labour force for the Region in 1999 was 2.6 million, an increase of 155.000 since 1990. However, observable changes within age brackets are leading to overall ageing of the working population. This shift is due in part to the decline in the number of young people in the Region, but also to the extension of the time spent at school.
Unemployment hits women and young people hardest.
So the population of Lyon is on the increase. In all, one resident in 2 is not a native of the city. This lowering of the average age is basically due to the fact that new arrivals are often young people come to study or join the workforce. Thus Lyon proper is now home to 61.856 school and university students of 15 or over, while the figure for 1980 was only 48.231. By contrast, most of the people who have left Lyon over the last 10 years were in the upper age bracket and moved elsewhere on retirement.