This note looks at the juxtaposition of a polarising income distribution and a 'professionalising' occupational structure as an account of recent trends in London. It suggests that Hamnett may read too much occupational upgrading from the data and that he does not tackle adequately the question of earned income polarisation. While welfare systems always mediate the relationship between the global and the local, Esping-Anderson's welfare state categorisations do not help to explain differences between New York and London. Gender relations are seen to underpin occupational and income trends in metropolitan areas.
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