ABSTRACT
The preceding chapters have concentrated primarily upon internal labor markets and the adjustment processes within medium- and large-size enterprises. These enterprises belong to the most stable and administratively well-organized segment of the economy. The better-educated and skilled workers customarily find employment in such markets. There are, however, a group of low-wage, and often marginal, enterprises and a set of casual, unstructured work opportunities where workers with employment disadvantages tend to find work. 1 The labor market adjustment process for this low-wage employment and its effect upon the disadvantaged is poorly understood. But available evidence suggests that it is less well developed, less effective, and perhaps more detrimental to the work habits of the labor force than the adjustment process in the higher wage labor market. The operation of the low-wage labor market will be examined in this chapter. In the first section, the characteristics of this market are described. The second and third sections present several theories of low-income labor market behavior, and conclusions for policy are offered in the fourth section.
