Firms in the Labour Market

Abstract

In the previous chapter we analysed the component parts of individual jobs. To make statements about the overall labour market, we simply summed up these jobs and concluded that a certain degree of hierarchy, combined with a few objective possibilities for choice, existed within the market. Yet that view of the market is not the worker’s view. For him at least two basic component units of the market exist — the job and the firm. In this chapter we discuss the role of the latter unit. We begin by comparing the job variety offered by the firms as employing units to the total variety present in the market. This will enable us to see the extent to which the normal process of job application — to a firm — cuts down the potential choice available to the worker. Then we will discuss the further constraints introduced by the internal labour market and by the selection procedures of the firms.