Sociology I / Work and Labour Markets
Practice question · Select all that apply

Which consequences follow from a labour market segmented into a stable primary segment and a precarious secondary one?

Hints
  1. Three of these follow from the barrier between the segments; one denies that the barrier exists.
  2. If workers could switch freely, there would be no segments to describe.
Show the answer
  • B. Downturns fall disproportionately on the segment whose contracts simply end
  • C. Employers invest less in training workers they expect not to keep
  • D. Movement between the segments is harder than movement within either one
Why

Segmentation is a claim about a barrier, so anything that presupposes free movement contradicts it. The three real consequences compound: the secondary segment absorbs the cycle, gets less training, and cannot easily cross into the primary one, which is why the same workers meet the next downturn in the same position.

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