Perceptions of employability among London's low-paid: 'self-determination' or ethnicity?

We investigate how ethnicity, gender and other characteristics affect low-paid workers’ perceptions of their employability in London’s labour market, examining ‘self-determination’, ethnic and dual labour market theories. We find that perceptions vary considerably, both between genders and ethnicities and in the extent to which they are ‘justified’ by human capital attributes. Optimism varies between genders and ethnic groups but individuals’ perceptions vary to an even greater extent within genders and ethnic groups. Hence, individual-level ‘self-determination’ explanations of these perceptions appear to have greatest explanatory power though ethnic theories also have utility.

Richard Croucher, Sumeetra Ramakrishnan, Marian Rizov, Diana Benzinger, Perceptions of employability among London’s low-paid: ‘Self-determination’ or ethnicity?, Economic and Industrial Democracy. Vol 39, Issue 1, pp. 109 - 130. Copyright © The Author(s) 2015. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.