Housing markets, labour markets and discontinuity theory

Abstract

This chapter discusses the debate by proposing a conceptualization of the general relationship between housing and labour markets which could form a basic framework with which to analyse their interaction in particular situations. C. Booth’s classic study of life and labour in London in the 1890s was essentially a detailed analysis of housing and labour market conditions of the time. Any real understanding of how housing markets work requires an understanding of the way in which the labour market influences levels of household income and hence levels of housing demand. Households represent aggregations of individual labour market participants, thus breaking the direct link between individual labour market positions and housing consumption potential. The closest labour market equivalent is the contrast between employees and those in self-employment where the ‘ownership’ and use of labour refer to the same person. The comparison with dual labour market theories in housing market literature is quite evident.