SOCI 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Human Capital, Monopsony, Market Power
3 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
The liberal / neoclassical view of the labour market. Labour is a factor of production like all others. The critical political economy view of the labour market: workers cannot substitute for employers in the way employers can substitute for workers. Assumption that if you don"t like your job you can just get another one. Truth: not all workers can compete for all available jobs. Labour market discrimination: gender, race/ethnicity, age, immigrant status. Individual workers" attempts to compete for work via human capital have contradictory outcomes. Oversupply of credentialed workers relative to job vacancies. Workers are underemployed relative to their skill and education levels. Price and skill are not the only factors determining labour market outcomes. Workers" decisions to enter and exit from labour markets are shaped by social and not merely economic factors. Employers select workers for other inscriptive criteria that permit them to minimize risk and maximize control.
