Labor-Market Experiences and Labor-Force Outcomes

This article presents a comprehensive framework for studying the linkages between previous labor-force behavior and current labor-force positions. This approach can be used to study labor-force dynamics in new ways and to show how margianl work consists of several types of labor-market experience. These include most forms of job search or employment behavior identified in previous sociological and economic literature. Labor-force outcomes include both current labor-force participation and underemployment or part-time work. Both typologies are modifications of the Hauser-Sullivan-Clogg Labor Utilization Framework. The cross-classification of the two typologies provides an empirical definition of the labor-market matching process. This contingency table characterizes structure in that process. The association between labor-market experiences and labor-force outcomes is strong and remarkably stable over time.