Article ID: | iaor20063222 |
Country: | Spain |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 63 |
End Page Number: | 80 |
Publication Date: | Nov 1999 |
Journal: | Fuzzy Economic Review |
Authors: | Cottrell Marie, Gaubert Patrice |
Keywords: | fuzzy sets, economics |
Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data on the period 1982–1992, this paper investigates some mechanisms of the labor market in the United States. This market is analyzed as a stable structure constituted of segments which present contrasted characteristics under the usual distinction between primary and secondary sectors. Using a neural network algorithm applied on quantitative variables measured at the level of heads of household, a broad classification in four classes of situations is constructed. It shows a clear hierarchy going from situations of very precarious work or no work at all, to situations of stable jobs with higher wages than the average. A Markov chain, constructed with the trajectories between the different situations of these workers, shows a very stable structure of this segmented labor market.