都市勞動市場의 形成과 非公式部門의 役割

The Growth of the Urban Labor Market and the Role of the Urban Informal Sector

Development economics has been dominated by the Lewis-Fei-Ranis type "two-sector model". In the Lewis model, the underdeveloped economy consists of two sectors, (a) a traditional, overpopulated rural-subsistence-sector and (b) a modern, urban industrial sector. In this model, the structural transformation of the economy takes place as the surplus labor migrating from the rural traditional sector to the modern urban industrial sector. The key assumption of the model is that surplus labor exists only in rural areas while there is full employment in urban areas. But most contemporary research indicates that in many Third World countries, rate of rural-urban migration exceeds rate of job creation of the urban modern sector so that there is substantial open unemployment and underemployment in urban areas. So, it is necessary to develop a three-sector model, which incorporates rural sector, urban formal sector and urban informal sector. In terms of its relationship with other sectors, the informal sector plays important roles. The formal sector in developing countries has limitation in generating employment. Thus the burden on the informal sector to absorb the bulk of new entrants to the urban labor force will continue to grow. This means that the informal sector will become a major supply source of unskilled labor to the formal sector. In this regard, I examined the extent of rural-urban migration and its allocation between the formal and informal sector in urban economy. I also examined the characteristics of migrants who are absorbed in the formal sector and who are absorbed in the informal sector.