SME
Human Geography
Economic geography
Use this for “A county has 24,000 of its 200,000 jobs in manufacturing; the nation has 12 million of 150 million. Find the location quotient.”
Diagram
12% of 200,000 is 24,000.
The dashed line and the band along the bar’s bottom mark sₙ = 8%.
This is an example. Type your own values to start a new problem.
LQ
=
(
eᵢ
÷
e
)
÷
(
Eᵢ
÷
E
)
Lowercase e counts the area’s jobs and capital E the nation’s; the subscript i marks the jobs in this one industry.
sₗ
Local share
calculated · %
sₙ
National share
calculated · %
Formulas
sₗ
=
100
×
eᵢ
e
12
=
100
×
24,000
200,000
sₙ
=
100
×
Eᵢ
E
8
=
100
×
12,000,000
150,000,000
LQ
=
sₗ
sₙ
1.5
=
12
8
Assumptions
•
Jobs are counted the same way for the area and the nation: the same industry, the same year.
•
LQ above 1: the industry holds a bigger share of the area’s jobs than of the nation’s, so the area specializes and likely exports.
•
LQ below 1: a smaller share than the nation’s, so the area likely brings in what the industry makes.
Step-by-step
WE KNOW
eᵢ = 24,000, e = 200,000, Eᵢ = 12,000,000, E = 150,000,000
FIND
local share (sₗ), national share (sₙ), location quotient (LQ)
Step 1 · Find local share (sₗ)
Use sₗ = 100 × eᵢ ÷ e
The industry’s jobs as a percent of all the area’s jobs.
sₗ
=
100
×
24,000
200,000
sₗ
=
2,400,000
200,000
sₗ = 12%
Step 2 · Find national share (sₙ)
Use sₙ = 100 × Eᵢ ÷ E
The industry’s jobs as a percent of all the nation’s jobs.
sₙ
=
100
×
12,000,000
150,000,000
sₙ
=
1,200,000,000
150,000,000
sₙ = 8%
Step 3 · Find location quotient (LQ)
Use LQ = sₗ ÷ sₙ
How many times the national share the local share is.
LQ
=
12
8
LQ = 1.5
Check
Put the numbers back in. Both sides should match.
12
=
100
×
24,000
200,000
✓
8
=
100
×
12,000,000
150,000,000
✓
1.5
=
12
8
✓
Topic check
See what you know: 5 questions on this topic
New questions each time. Pass to mark it complete.
More problem types
Land rent and distance from market
Use this for “Wheat yields 4 t a hectare, sells for $200 a tonne, costs $120 a tonne to grow and $0.50 a tonne per km to haul. What rent does land 100 km out earn?”
Least-cost site: mine or market
Use this for “Smelting 1 t of copper takes 5 t of ore. The mine is 300 km from the market and freight is $0.10 a tonne-km. Build at the mine or the market?”
Economic sectors of jobs
Use this for “Is a truck driver, a steel worker or a software designer in the primary, secondary, tertiary or quaternary sector?”