The theory of labour market segmentation: approaches, current situation and future prospects

The theory of labour market segmentation is a set of theoretical approaches that have gradually arisen since the end of the 1960s in an attempt to explain phenomena such as the presence of pay inequalities, the persistence of poverty, discrimination, unemployment and the like. The central idea of these approaches is that the labour market is made up of various different segments, with different mechanisms for allocation and wage determination and with barriers to mobility between them. The aim of this paper is to identify these approaches, their origins, their development and the different methodological and content patterns they show. At the same time it lays out the chief problems affecting this set of theories in its current state and briefly outlines some ideas to revitalize it.