dual labour market

the assumption that LABOUR MARKETS are systematically divided into two sectors: the primary and the secondary. The primary sector comprises relatively high-wage jobs with career prospects, while the jobs within the secondary sector lack these characteristics. The rationale for the division was that employers wished to offset the high cost of maintaining a stable, skilled core of workers by employing non-skilled workers to carry out the less central work activities on less favourable terms of employment and for less pay Alternatively, companies may subcontract the work to small firms operating in a secondary labour market in the external environment. Typically, white adult males have enjoyed better access to primary sector jobs, while women and members of ethnic minorities have been over-represented within the secondary sector.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

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References in periodicals archive

Chomsky argues that inclusion of migrants into the body politic produced a dual labour market linked to racial order.

Aviva Chomsky, Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal

Blair (2001) challenges the notion of a dual labour market whereby workers exist in either a secure, permanent mode of employment or are precariously employed on an ad hoc basis in her analysis of the labour process in the UK film industry.

Work and employment in the Australian film industry: a research agenda

Monti tried to boost the role of apprenticeships, taking Germany as a model, to replace temporary or "precarious" contracts that are seen as the unacceptable face of the dual labour market. These contracts were not scrapped, as some experts urged, but the rules for using them were tightened.

Six months on, Monti's reform has changed little

Next, the growing use of independent contracting is explained using two theoretical frameworks: HR architectures, positing relationships between modes of employment and modes of HR governance; and dual labour market theory.

In regard to the vulnerability of workers, the implications of this kind of structural division of the labor force may be comprehended using dual labour market theory, notably, the construct of labour market segmentation (Doeringer & Piore, 1971; Reich, Gordon & Edwards, 1973).

The key point made by dual labour market theorists for the present discussion is that inequality and poverty are shaped by structural deficiencies in the creation and allocation of jobs in the labour market, rather than the endowments of individuals.

Independent contracting in low skilled, low paid work in Australia

The crisis has revealed the risk that a dual labour market may emerge.

Executive summary

The growth of urban centres in Canada and the practical application of Canadian immigration policy have led to the creation of a dual labour market reflecting the uneven development of globalization.

Barbarian invasions: Canadian immigration and the dynamics of global migration

By explaining labour as a system that is organized by, and actively organizes, gender and race hierarchies, Glenn argues against traditional economic-based theories of the labour market such as human capital or dual labour market theory.

Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor

If the increase of real wage costs expected by the critics of the EU's social programme reduces employment, it will do so in the "secondary" sector of the emerging dual labour market of Europe.

Certainly in many EU countries, including the UK, dual labour markets appear to be emerging, with a regulated high-wage, high-productivity sector co-existing with a low-wage, unskilled sector offering insecure part-time employment.

European Union social policy and flexible production

For the UAE, and other dual labour markets in the Gulf, organising the future workforce and addressing segmentation will be vital.

20m jobs in the Middle East can be automated