최근 우리나라에서 급속하게 진행되고 있는 노동시장의 이중화 또는 분절 현상은 기존의 노동법체계에 의해서 해소되기 어려운 성격을 가지고 있다. 현행 노동법체계는 기간의 정함이 없는 풀타임 남성 고용을 대상으로 한 이른바 표준적 노동관계를 전제로 하고 있으나, 노동시장의 분절은 이러한 전제를 붕괴시키고 있기 때문이다. 따라서 노동조합을 중심으로 한 단체교섭체제나 계약관계를 중심으로 한 기존의 노동법체제로 노동시장의 분절을 해결할 수 없다. 청년, 고령자, 여성 등 노동시장에서 배제된 집단을 포섭하는 이념적 지향을 가진 새로운 노동법체계가 모색되어야 한다. 이 논문은 아마티아 센(Amartya Sen)의 잠재역량 접근방식에 기대어 노동시장의 분절을 극복하기 위해서는 단체교섭과 근로계약관계를 넘어선 포용적 노동시장 체계를 형성하여야 한다고 주장한다. 구체적으로는 노동법의 규범적 근거를 헌법 제32조, 제33조 외에도 경제 민주화를 정한 제119조 제2항으로 확대함으로써 사회적으로 배제되고 있는 자가 공정한 분배를 보장받고 사회에 재통합되기 위해 자신의 목소리를 낼 수 있는 사회적 숙의과정에 참여할 수 있도록 하여야 한다고 제안하고 있다.

Nowadays the fragmentation of labor market raises structural problems in the labor market, which can be hardly dealt by the traditional labor law regime. The traditional labor law regime intends to rectify the imbalance of bargaining power between employers and workers. However, current labor law regime has been established under the assumption of so-called standard employment relationship on the premise of full-time and indefinite employment by male breadwinner, which no longer exists nor can be expected in the future. Various internal as well as external factors including the consistent decline of the trade union density, individualization of workers, vertical disintegration of undertakings, and subcontracting continue to accelerate the fragmentation of labor market. In these contexts, the purpose and procedures of labor law to promote balance of power between employers and workers through collective bargaining, and to fulfill the fair distribution of income cannot be achieved nor functioned as it had originally been designed. With the fragmentation of labor market it is almost impossible to achieve fair vertical income distribution between employer and workers, nor equitable horizontal income distribution between workers by labor law. It is necessary to establish inclusive labor market focused on 'relations' not on 'contracts' in order to eradicate social exclusion and to solve the problems caused by the fragmentation of labor market. Armartya Sen's Capability Approach gives us insights to address these issues. If capabilities are a consequence of the access individuals have to the processes of socialization, eduction and training, as Deakin and Wilkinson observed, then by providing the conditions under which access to these processes is made available, mechanisms of redistribution may be not only compatible with, but also become a precondition to, the efficient operation of the labor market. In this perspective, the purpose of labor law can be prescribed as the process of 'institutionalising capabilities', that is to say, as providing mechanisms for extending the range of choice of alternative functionings on the part of individuals so that the scope of the labor law be widened beyond employment contract in the enterprise to the labor market more generally. In this regard, it is important to allow all individuals including socially excluded groups such as precarious youth, domestic workers, and undocumented foreigners to realize their capabilities for voice. The deliberative social choice procedures can be used to determine the substance of capabilities. Given these considerations, it is time to admit that collective bargaining is no longer an effective mechanism to fix the inequality of power between employer and workers in the fragmentation of labor market. As an alternative, this paper proposes the 'economic democracy' clause in the Korean Constitution might be a useful basis to establish deliberative social choice procedures in the face of the fragmentation of labor market, which can ultimately lead to broadening the scope of labor law and the regulation of labor market.