Summary
Labour market supply is assumed to depend on the maximization of worker welfare. Welfare is assumed partly to depend on the ‘tension’ between schooling required by the job and actual schooling. Hence in the allocation of workers over jobs a tendency can be expected to minimize tension. Strict minimization produces a matrixt obtained by Hitchcock's Northwest-corner rule. Recent material due to Rumberger allows an explanation of 69 to 85 per cent of frequency variance. The remaining error term can be explained by the assumption of independence of demand and supply.
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References
Gottschalk P.T., “A Comparison of Marginal Productivity and Earnings by Occupation,”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, XXXI (1978), No. 3, pp. 368–378.
Hitchcock, F.L., ‘The Distribution of a Product from Several Sources to Numerous Localities,’Journal of Math. Physics, XX (1941), pp. 224–230 (quoted in Mennes, L.B.M.,et al., The Element of Space in Development Planning, Amsterdam, 1969, p. 321)
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Tinbergen, J. Allocation of workers over jobs. De Economist 132, 23–29 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02384067
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02384067