Labor Markets

At its most basic, a labor market is where labor supply (workers) and labor demand (employers) come together. Although this definition is suggestive of a marketplace where workers advertise themselves to potential employers, in reality, workers' ability to sell their labor is linked to the skills and experience that they have (human capital); the awareness that they have about the availability of a particular job, which is largely tied to their social networks; the location of the job in relation to their home or their willingness to undertake a migration to be within commuting distance of the employer; and also their own domestic responsibilities. Likewise, because not all employees are the same, employers must discriminate between those who are selling their labor. One way they ...