The International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation (IWPLMS)

The IWPLMS was founded in 1979 following a conference hosted by the Department of Applied Economics in Cambridge.

The IWPLMS is dedicated to understanding the processes shaping inequality and segmentation in labour markets. It adopts a multi-disciplinary, dynamic and comparative institutional theoretical perspective in analysing change over time and differences across countries. It rejects the narrow economistic assumption that the market is a neutral force, with segmentation attributed to exogenous social factors. In contrast the IWPLMS is concerned with both the institutional historical development of productive systems by sector, supply chain and country and how these intersect with and are shaped by the specific forms of segmentation of the workforce- for example by gender, ethnicity, age, social class.

Its focus on the shaping role of institutions extends well beyond the standard industrial relations institutions of the state, employers’ associations and trade unions. It includes consideration of national and global political, financial and productive systems as well as the institutions shaping social reproduction, such as education and training, welfare and gender, family and household systems.

The purpose of the IWPLMS is to provide a forum in which this this line of thought can thrive and make active contributions to both academic and policy debates on how to understand and shape the future of work, the economy and society with the overriding aim of reducing inequalities and fostering cohesive, productive and sustainable societies.

The IWPLMS has held an annual conference almost every year since its foundation and in 2019 celebrated its fortieth conference in Dusseldorf before Covid forced a temporary interruption in its activities. The IWPLMS has been managed informally by an international steering committee, composed of key founder members and all lead conference organisers. The interruption due to Covid has given the IWPLMS an opportunity to refresh its steering committee to bring in new members, in many cases from a younger generation of scholars whose research is very much following the founding principles of the IWPLMS. The country coverage of the steering committee is also expanding though still mainly focused at present on developed economies.

The IWPLMS would, however, welcome ideas about how to further internationalise its research and perspectives.

Background

IWPLMS was initially founded by a group of labour economists whose work was influenced by both heterodox economics and by comparative institutional research in industrial relations, sociology and political economy. Many of those attending the first few conferences of the IWPLMS or contributing to the first edited volume continued to participate and to play a major role in shaping the intellectual agenda of the IWPLMS. This included the main organisers of the very first conference - namely Jill Rubery and Frank Wilkinson, and three attendees: Paola Villa, Werner Sengenberger and Sam Rosenberg.

Other notable contributors to debates on segmentation and comparative institutional research who joined during the 1980s included Francois Michon, Sebastiano Brusco, Gerhard Bosch, Philippe Méhaut and Albert Recio. Those organising the 40 conferences held to date also made a major contribution to the IWPLMS and are listed below. The IWPLMS has also supported a wide range of publications, projects and overlapping networks and some key examples are provided below.

IWPLMS and interdisciplinary research on employment

As economics as a discipline has in many countries and contexts become more narrowly focused over recent years IWPLMS has increasingly become more explicitly interdisciplinary with members now coming from a variety of degree subjects alongside economics to include business and management, sociology, political science, geography, development studies, employment law etc.

The focus is still on the core economic topic of employment and its role in both production and social reproduction, but the IWPLMS approach is based on the firm belief that this core institution can only be understood through interdisciplinary research. This is indispensable for an appreciation of the complexity of economic and social phenomena and for ensuring that the figment of the neoclassical labour market is not the starting point for the analysis of employment.