Segmented Labor: Evidence from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Microdata.

This analysis seeks to provide empirical evidence that supports the existence of a segmented labor market—there exists a subset of the population confined to an unstable and low paying labor market experience. Linked employee-employer data is used to document labor market flows, allowing identification of labor market structures independent of preconceived notions and without artificial truncations. The evidence demonstrates that labor market instability is not normally distributed; rather, instability is highly concentrated and exhibits a perfect monotonic relationship with relative earnings. The secondary market is found to occur primarily in retail, service, and caring subsectors.

The Job Guarantee Increases Stability and Reduces Inequality. A Stock-Flow Consistent Macroeconomic Model.

This inquiry seeks to establish that a Job Guarantee (JG) will increase employment and economic stability while reducing inequality. The inquiry begins with a brief introduction in Part 1. The introduction provides a general description of a JG and considers how contemporary policy responses, which focus on controlling inflation, have failed. The theoretical argument posited in this paper, outlined in Part 2, operates within the framework of a capitalist economy as described by Hyman Minsky (1986 [2008]). Part 3 contains a review of the literature, most of which focuses on how a JG provides full employment with price stability while alleviating poverty. Moreover, this section considers principal arguments from both proponents and critics. Part 4 describes the development of a Stock-Flow Consistent (SFC) model. The model serves to support the claim that a capitalist economy can achieve full employment while simultaneously increasing economic stability. Five key assumptions are clearly stated before developing the four sectors of the model. The stationary states are then derived analytically and presented at the end of Part 4. The analysis concludes with Part 5, where future extensions are considered and potential problems addressed.