Is the Concept of Labour Market Segmentation Still Accurate?

After Doeringer and Piore laid the foundation for an analysis of labour market segmentation (LMS) in 1971, similar approaches developed rapidly and spread all over the United States and Europe. During the 1970s and 1980s, the segmented framework or the internal labour market (ILM) concept were necessary references in labour economics studies. Different interpretations of the segmentation theory were developed in various countries in accordance with the particularity of national frameworks, in terms of schools of thoughts as well as facts. Yet, since the 1990s, in the United-States as well as in Europe, major changes in the labour market induced a loss of interest in segmentation theories. The search for flexibility came to the forefront among employer strategies and public policies as well as in theoretical debates. This change in focus is usually linked to the 1970s crises and economic globalisation. More precisely two key features were crucial to the disinterest in ILMs and LMS. First, the prototypical blue-collar worker employed in a large industrial firm, associated with the image of ILM, has been rendered obsolete by the spread of the service sector and of externalisation strategies. Second, the worker as an individual rather than being included in a group is a notion that has been put forward inside and outside the firm. This must be linked to the spreading of new practices in employment and work management among firms as well as the weakening of collective representation of workers.