Formal and Informal Mobility in Internal Labor Markets

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Recent research on social inequality has focused attention on the role played by organizational promotion policies in shaping career and income histories. While much of this work assumes that promotion policies exert a significant influence on these histories, little evidence exists to support this assumption. Thus, this study addresses the structure of career mobility by looking at the characteristics of jobs and workers that permit workers to move up job ladders within a sample of organizations. Also, it examines the extent to which patterns are guided by formal organizational policies. The study looks at the ways in which social inequality is generated by career movements that are consistent or inconsistent with organizational policies. The Principal Investigator draws on the California State Civil Service data base to test various hypotheses about the nature of career dynamics. The data base provides comprehensive information on formal promotion policies and related Civil Service rules and procedures and includes detailed personnel records describing the career histories of several thousand civil servants during the period 1974 to 1985. The findings from this study should contribute to our understanding of the causes and nature of social inequality. The results will also provide a means by which to better understand the effects of Affirmative Action programs and other interventions aimed at improving opportunities by modifying promotion policies.