The Post-Sectoral Gap: A Structural Framework for Analysing Employment–Value Decoupling

This paper develops a structural framework for analysing long-term economic transformation beyond classical sectoral theory. While traditional models describe development primarily through shifts in employment between primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors, the proposed framework separates employment structures from income and value-generation dynamics as analytically distinct dimensions.

The model identifies a systematic temporal asymmetry: value creation typically emerges earlier and declines earlier than labor absorption within each sector. This forward displacement explains why sectoral transitions are driven by profitability and capital reallocation rather than by labor displacement alone.

Building on this distinction, the paper introduces the concept of the post-sectoral gap, defined as a structural divergence between employment distribution, value creation, income allocation, and institutional control structures. The framework provides a theoretical basis for measurable structural diagnostics, including sectoral efficiency ratios (income share to employment share) and analysis of employment–value decoupling. It establishes a foundation for indicator-based interpretation of contemporary economic transformation processes.

Author keywords (free terms): Post-Sectoral Gap; Sectoral efficiency ratio; Employment–value decoupling; Structural transformation; Beyond Sectors.

Internal reference: CB_06_01 (v0.2).