ABSTRACT
Labour demand reflects the outcome of cost-minimising decisions by firms in response to relative factor prices. The insights into efficiency and distribution within the labour market provided by recent developments in labour market analysis will no doubt be extended as the ideas are refined and tested. The Segmented labour market (SLM) model provides a very different view of the labour market and consequently of labour market disadvantage to that of the traditional approach. The final piece of evidence SLM economists provide to establish that the labour market is segmented is mainly descriptive. The experiences of individuals in the labour market are shaped not primarily by their own actions but by the structure and dynamics of the economic system. In the SLM model the economy works according to criteria which are inconsistent with efficiency.
