Abstract
The structural changes of the labor market in the industrialized economies have become an important topic of labor market research and practical labor market policy. Yet, little progress has been realized hitherto concerning the market position of different qualities of labor occupied in small business enterprises. Referring to West-European countries, and especially to West Germany, the following article gives some insight into the functioning of the tripartite labor market and its consequences for the employment fluctuations in very small enterprises on the one hand and in big firms on the other. The main question is whether small business is marked by labor market segmentation in the same way as it has been stated for big firms by the recent development of labor market theory.
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