4. Root causes of labour market failure
• Occupational immobility - barriers to moving easily between jobs
• Geographical immobility – barriers to changing location to find a new job
Labour Immobility
• The unemployment trap – where economic incentives to take a job are poor
• The poverty trap – where there are disincentives to earn extra income
Disincentives to find / take work
• This is a part explanation of the gender gap in pay and women in senior roles
• Discrimination badly affects wages and employment for affected groups
Discrimination by employers
• They can use their “buying power” in labour market to drive down wages
Monopsony power of employers
6. Labour Immobility
Thousands of
qualifications will be
replaced by 15 "T-
Level" training
routes specific to
different industries,
from finance and
accounting to
engineering and
manufacturing.
7. Labour Immobility From September
2017, three- and
four-year-olds in
England will be
entitled to 30 free
hours of care per
week in term time -
up from the current
15 hours.
But will local
authorities and other
care providers have
the capacity to meet
the expected
demand?
8. Labour market discrimination
• Labour market discrimination occurs when an employers
uses metrics/characteristics other than the measured
productivity of a worker to judge their attractiveness for a
job/role
• Discrimination can be on the basis of:
1. Gender
2. Ethnicity / racial profile
3. Faith
4. Sexuality
5. Age
6. Height
7. Social background
8. Any other characteristic
11. Explaining the Gender Pay Gap
1. Breaks from the labour market
• When women take maternity leave to raise a family, it is harder to
achieve promotion when re-entering the jobs market.
• Age at which many women take a break from the labour force is often
the point when careers take off and wages rise at a fast pace
2. Access to education: In many lower and middle income countries,
opportunity for women to take qualifications and gain experience is limited,
this is affected by social norms and high fertility rates
3. Patterns of employment: In developed countries:
• Women are disproportionately represented in part time work
• Many females tend to be clustered in service occupations that pay less –
e.g. clerical, caring, catering, cleaning
• Many women work in vocations where wages are relatively lower
4. Gender pay gap remains affected by continued employer discrimination
5. Increased female participation rates in economies has increased the supply
of labour which may have contributed to lower relative wages
12. Monopsony in the Labour Market
National Health
Service
Armed Forces
Out-Sourcing -
Capita and G4S
Amazon and
Sports Direct
Supermarkets Local councils
• Chain of Reasoning
• A monopsony occurs
when there is a sole or a
dominant employer in a
labour market.
• The employer therefore
has buying power over
employees
• This gives them wage-
setting power
• In theory this leads to
lower wages than in a
competitive market.
13. Monopsony Analysis (Condensed)
Wage
Rate
Employment
Labour Supply
(= ACL)
W1
E1
• Profit maximising
employment level
is where
MCL=MRPL i.e. E2
number of people
are employed
• Their marginal
revenue product is
valued at W2
• Monopsony power
of the employer
allows them to pay
a wage rate W3
Labour Demand
= MRPL
Marginal cost
of labour (MCL)
E2
W2
W3
14. Monopsony Analysis (Condensed)
Wage
Rate
Employment
Labour Supply
(= ACL)
W1
E1
• Monopsony
employer can use
their buying power
to pay a wage
lower than the
value of the
marginal revenue
product of workers
employed at E2
• Monopsony power
can lead to
exploitation of
employed workers
Labour Demand
= MRPL
Marginal cost
of labour (MCL)
E2
W2
W3
Total
wages
Wages lost from
under-payment by
employer
15. Policies to address labour market failure
• Targeted employment subsidies / apprenticeships / internship opportunities
• Reforms to the housing market to improve affordability / lower travel costs
Labour Immobility
• Reforms to incomes taxes (lower marginal rates) & benefit reforms (cap +
conditionality attached to welfare claims)
• Increase in the national minimum wage / expansion of the living wage
Disincentives to find / take work
• Tougher laws on equality and penalties for businesses flouting the law
• Laws on unfair dismissal / minimum wage + other measures to cut poverty pay
Discrimination by employers
• Encourage business start-ups / small businesses as new employers
Monopsony power of employers
16. A*: Efficiency Wage Theory
Efficiency Wage
Model
• Pay positively
linked to
productivity
• Psychological
factors
• Employers
encouraged to
improve training
• Less absenteeism
at work
17. A*: Is the welfare cap working?
Cap limits the total
amount of benefits that
a household working
less than 16 hours per
week could claim at
£20,000 a year. outside
of London, or £23,000
in the capital.
22. A*: Do Robots Destroy Jobs?
45,000 robots are
working away at
Amazon fulfillment
centers. Amazon
Robotics’ Kiva
travels at a speed of
5,5 kilometers per
hour und can lift up
to 340 kilograms.
The Amazon
workforce stood at
300,000 employees
at the end of
September 2016.
That’s double the
numbers than in
2014.
23. A*: Debate over universal basic income
A basic income is a periodic cash
payment unconditionally delivered
to all on an individual basis