Dual Labour Market | Meaning and Definition

World Labour Market? 

The dual labour market, as per definition, simply means the theory that the work market or the American economy abides by. In simple terms, it says the labour market is divided into two different categories, the secondary sector, and the primary sector. For ages, the dual labour market has revolved centering poverty, public welfare, and discrimination. In general, the primary sector meaning includes labourers and employees having jobs with company status, good pay, job security, good job roles, potential to be promoted, and safe and clean working conditions. 

Secondary Sector 

The secondary sector meaning includes workers and labourers who are offered minimal wages, low-status jobs, poor job security, less to no chances for promotion, and on top of that, a very poor conditions to work in. 

The dual labour market in today’s economy 

A brief idea of the structure of the nation’s economy, based on the dual economy, was given by the American economists, Peter Doeringer and Michael Poore, at the beginning of 1970. According to their key observation, the primary sector included workers of educated backgrounds, often called the blue-collar men hailing from good backgrounds, whereas the secondary sector included workers who were generally migrants, mainly women with no job security and being prone to be replaced. This eventually came to be known as the dual labour market. 

However, the basics of the theory of duality still exist in today’s world. To be precise, discrimination based on religion, sex, and race may not be as serious as it was at that time, but today also, the primary sector includes the same blue and white educated and collared professionals with a good background, whereas the secondary sector consists of migrants, uneducated individuals. 

Types of Labour Market

There can be many differences between both sectors of the dual labour market. On the one hand, the primary sector can be compared with positive qualities; however, this is not the same for the second tier. The secondary sector is linked with negative qualities such as cheap working conditions, minimal wages, closed opportunities for advancement in career, and poor job security. It is often filled with ethnic minorities, migrants, individuals with troubled upbringings or poor backgrounds, while the primary sector is filled with individuals who are native residents. As a result, the workers of the secondary sphere lack skills, knowledge, reliability, and education as compared to the individuals of the primary sphere. The secondary tier also suffers from turnovers which are frequent. 

Labour in economics

It is very crucial to understand the impact of the labour market on economics. The labour market, also known as the job market, simply means the demand and supply of jobs in the economy. In this aspect, the employees looking for jobs stand in the position of the suppliers while the employers provide the demand. The labour market plays a crucial role in the economy of a nation in ensuring its success or decline.

Healthy societies based on a good economy maintain a balance between supplying the demand for the labour market. A declining economy suffers from an imbalance, unable to maintain the chain of supply and demand. Factors imbalancing an economy consist of dynamics in both international and domestic markets, average population age, immigration, and education level of both the primary and secondary sector. 

Segmented Labour market

The labour market segmentation plays a key role in both the development and structure of the labour market. A segmented labour market means the division of the labour markets into submarkets which results in the primary and secondary spheres being subdivided. A segmented labour market is often noticed as a result of collective bargaining, temporary or permanent contractual agreements, and non-migrant or migrant workers.