Class XI, Principles of Economics, "Mobility of Labour"

Mobility of Labour

Meaning
The capacity of a worker to move from one place to another is called mobility of labour. E.g. the movement of villagers towards cities for sake of employment, shifting a worker engaged in production to distribution.
Kinds of Mobility of Labour
Mobility of labour may take any one of the following kinds:
1. Geographical Mobility of Labour
The movement of a worker from one locality to another in search of employment is called geographical mobility of labour. E.g. if a worker has moved to Dubai in search of employment it will called geographical mobility.
Geographical mobility is of two types:
(i) National Mobility
If the movement of labour is with in the national boundaries of the country i.e. within the country it will be called national mobility.
(ii) International Mobility
When the movement of labour takes place across international boundaries i.e. out side the country such kind of mobility is called international mobility.
2. Occupational Mobility
The change of profession or occupation for the sake of getting better financial reward is called occupational mobility of labour. It is also called professional mobility e.g. if a labour changes his profession and starts a hotel it will be deemed as his professional or occupational mobility. It may be further classified as:
3. Horizontal Mobility of Labour
It is also known as parallel mobility of labour. It means that a worker moves from one employment to another without any change in his grade or salary e.g. a college clerk is transferred to the university office with the same salary and facilities.
4. Vertical Mobility of Labour
It refers to that mobility in which a person is transferred from a lower grade to a higher with an increase in his salary and other facilities e.g. an asst marketing manager is promoted as the marketing manager.
Diagram. Coming Soon…
Ox and Oy are the two axes. Units of apples are represented along ox and units of utility along oy. Utility of the first apple is represented by the rectangle standing on the utility of each successive unit consumed is represented by rectangles as shown in the figure, These rectangles are getting smaller as we consume more and more apples. The 5th apple yields no utility. The e6th and 7th have negative utility as shown by the rectangles below the axis.