- Immobility of labour
- Immobility of labour is the difficulty workers have in moving to a different occupation or a different area, so labour does not flow to where it is wanted.
- Structural unemployment
- Structural unemployment is unemployment that lasts because the skills or the location of the people out of work do not match the vacancies on offer.
Kinds of labour immobility
Can you name the two kinds of labour immobility?
One kind stops a worker changing job; the other stops a worker changing place.
Occupational immobility is the difficulty workers have in moving from one occupation to another, usually because the new work needs skills or qualifications they lack.
Can you think of an example?
A welder laid off from a Teesside steelworks sees vacancies for nurses and software developers nearby. He cannot fill them without years of training, so he stays out of work.
Geographical immobility is the difficulty workers have in moving from one area to another for a job, because of the cost of moving, housing or ties to family.
Can you think of an example?
A care worker in Hartlepool is offered a better-paid post in Cambridge. Rents there are far higher and her children are settled at school, so she turns it down.