Sociology Index

PRIMARY LABOUR MARKET

The market is divided into a primary labour market and a secondary labour market. Men dominate the primary labour market and women and minorities dominate the secondary labour market. In the theory of labour market segmentation, there are differences on the demand side which imply differences in compensation. The labor market segmentation theory splits the aggregate labor market into the primary labor market and the secondary labor market. Research has shown labour markets as divided into a primary labour market and a secondary labour market. Primary labour markets tend to offer high salaries, better working conditions, and more job stability. Primary labour market tends to be found in those sectors of business that are capital intensive. Labour that is required in primary labour market tends to be more skilled.

In primary labour markets, workers are more apt to be unionized and to be able to make greater wage demands than workers in a secondary labour market even though the primary labour market offers high pay, job security, good working conditions with favourable promotion prospects. Primary labour markets include white collar jobs like teaching, accounting, and law.

A multinomial probit model reveals that Turkish apprentices and those from the other migrant groups have a significantly lower probability of transition into the primary labour market, whereas EU15 migrants do not differ from Germans in this respect. - Labour market entry of migrants in Germany: does cultural diversity matter? Haas, Anette, Damelang, Andreas.

Dual labour market theory makes the connection between primary sector jobs, primary sector employers and primary sector workers. Dual labour market theory highlights the significant hurdles that limit some groups of workers access to primary labour market benefits. Will older workers who have operated in the primary labour market throughout their working lives be willing or able to re-enter the labour force in the less attractive secondary labour market segment? - Non-Regulatory Impediments to the Primary Labour Market Participation of Mature Workers - Sally Weller.

What are Dual Labour Markets?

American economists Doeringer and Piore noticed that the labour market seemed to be segregated into a primary sector and a secondary sector. They labelled this segregated market the dual labour market. Analysis of the dual labour market asserted that secondary sector workers either chose those kinds of jobs or were there because they weren’t as reliable or skilled as those who worked in the primary labour market. The dual labour market analysts believe the market is split into far more than two sectors. The informal economy operates outside traditional legal and administrative frameworks.

PRIMARY LABOUR MARKET ABSTRACTS

Primary and Secondary Labor Markets - Implications for Vocational Rehabilitation - David Hagner.
Abstract: This article reviews theoretical and empirical evidence work in labor economics and the sociology of work relating to the segmentation of the labor market into a primary labour market sector and a secondary labour market sector and examines the implications for vocational rehabilitation. Demand-side and supply-side factors associated with labor market segmentation and movement of workers from the secondary to the primary sector are reviewed. Transition into primary labour market sector employment is explored as an important aspect of career development for individuals with disabilities.