Exploring spatial disparities of work-shaped social vulnerability and resilience across the French Alps

Work capability—the life opportunities afforded to people related to work—shape people’s broader social vulnerability and resilience. However, the opportunity to decent work varies significantly across people and places, depending on socio-demographic characteristics, local contextual factors, and labour market structures. Through a spatial autocorrelation analysis using principal components and composite indices, this study reveals significant spatial differentiation across the French Alps of work-shaped social vulnerability and resilienc e—that is, the broader social risks and capacities shaped by people’s employment situations and access to decent work opportunities. Clear disparities in work security versus precarity, and opportunity versus exclusion, show an uneven distribution, with some distinct north–south and east–west divisions. These spatial patterns appear shaped by both place-based factors and structural social dynamics. Urbanised valleys, rural high mountains, and peripheral prealpine areas show marked differences in people’s overall work opportunity. To avoid widening spatial inequalities, place-sensitive policies targeting marginal and vulnerable areas, and enhancing interconnectivity between hubs and peripheries, are crucial for Alpine vitality. • Clear spatial disparities in work-shaped social vulnerability-resilience across the French Alps. • Divergence between urbanised valleys, high mountains, and prealpine areas. • North-south regional inequality, but local dynamics create vulnerable peripheries and resilient hotspots. • A place-based approach is a vital complement to regional policy to ensure local needs are addressed.