Consideration of structural complexity raises a variety of questions about the labor force and the market for labor. In this chapter I focus on the complexity of the job structure and its implications for unemployment. In the following chapter I deal with the shift of labor into the “information sector” and the reduction of structural complexity in the institutions of labor–management relations.

In the following discussion I document that structural complexity of the job structure is rising according to two of the three definitions of the concept offered in Chapter 1. First, and more importantly, the direct information requirements of the system, measured in terms of the skill requirements of jobs, are increasing. Second, the heterogeneity of the labor force, which is one measure of the division of labor, appears to have an upward trend. In the next chapter I discuss the labor market in terms of the third aspect of complexity, the interactions within the system.

After considering the secular rise in the rate of the unemployment rate since 1950, I take up the argument advanced in the previous chapter that the demand for skilled labor has risen faster than the supply and that the reverse has occurred for unskilled labor. These factors are crucial in explaining not just shifts in the wage structure but also the rising unemployment rate. For empirical support I explore evidence on literacy levels of employed and unemployed workers, and data on changes of the rates of unemployment among workers with different skill levels.