Organizations

The inequality observed in the larger population is partly generated within the internal labor markets (ILMs) of work organizations. These ILMs lay out the rules and procedures governing pay, promotion, hiring, and firing and may therefore be understood as the "genetic code" behind inequality regimes. Because inequality is partly generated in ILMs, it is important to study how they affect pay and other employment outcomes, how the structures of ILMs are changing, and to what extent careers are fashioned within ILMs rather than within labor markets that cut across ILMs (e.g., occupational labor markets, spot labor markets).

Structure of ILMs

Are some types of ILMs, such as bureaucratic ones, more resistant to discrimination? Are "permanent employment systems" becoming less common? Are less hierarchical ILMs becoming more common? Why are "mommy tracks" and "fast tracks" emerging within ILMs? Are new forms of inequality being generated within these new ILMs?

Decline of ILMs?

Are internal labor markets breaking down and spot markets for labor increasingly emerging? Are occupational labor markets becoming more common? Is rising CEO pay attributable to this breakdown of internal promotion and an increasing competition for "marquis" CEOs? What are the effects of outsourcing on benefits, mobility rates, and income?