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Labour Market Flexibility and Pension Reforms
by Karl Hinrichs Matteo JessoulaIncreasingly flexible labour markets and reforms of old-age pension systems are still ranking high on the political agenda of European countries. This volume investigates whether, and to what extent, the interplay between pension reforms and the spread of 'atypical' employment patterns and fragmented careers has a negative influence uponeconomic security in old age. The volume, therefore, analyzes the flexibility-security nexus by focusing on the post-retirement phase, thus extending the conventional narrow concept of 'flexicurity'. The book also questions whetherreforms of public and private pension schemes compensate or aggravate the risks of increasingly flexible labor markets and atypical employment careers after retirement? Around this overarching research question, the various contributions in the volume employ the same analytical framework in order to map, and then compare, the developments in seven European countries - Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK which present different labour market arrangements and various degrees of flexibility, as well as diverse pension systems.
The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement
by Francesco Pastore Floro Ernesto CaroleoUntil recently, regional labour market imbalances were considered transitory phenomena caused by state failure in yielding distorted investment incentives and by labour market rigidities. Labour mobility and wage flexibility were at the core of the debate over the causes of and cures for regional imbalances. This book bears witness to the changed perspective of research. For instance, in the recent literature, internal migration is depicted as a cause of further geographical divergence. The book contributes to the debate by presenting important new findings on: a) the reasons why structural change in some sectors causes a slump in some regions; b) the extent to which poverty traps explain spatial imbalances; c) the degree of convergence across EU countries and regions; d) the role of labour mobility in Central and Eastern Europe; e) and the role of pro-active employment schemes and child care facilities in alleviating the hardship of the weakest segments of the population.
Labour Market Institutions and Productivity: Labour Utilisation in Central and Eastern Europe (Routledge Studies in Labour Economics)
by Micha 322 Beata Wo 378 Niak-J 281 Chorek PilcThis book explains the role of formal labour market institutions in keeping the labour utilisation in Central and Eastern Europe above the level characteristic for Western European states. It provides an innovative and enriching take on labour utilisation at large and how various formal labour market institutions can affect the ongoing trend in labour utilisation in a way that is not covered by the extant literature. The impact of labour market institutions on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, both from a cross-country perspective and in detailed case-studies, by 21 labour market experts from various CEE countries. Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way in order to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience. The volume explores three key questions: How can labour utilisation be increased by labour market institutions? Which CEE countries managed to create a labour market institutional framework beneficial for labour utilisation? How should the labour market institutions in CEE countries be reformed in order to increase labour utilisation? The book argues that the legacy of transition reforms and a centrally planned past is still relevant in explaining common patterns among CEE countries and concludes that increasing the stock of skills accumulated by the employed and improving utilisation of these skills seems to be the first-best solution to increase labour utilisation. The book will be of interest to post-graduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics as well as scholars interested in adopting an institutional analysis approach. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics.
Labour Market Policies in the Era of Pervasive Austerity: A European Perspective
by Sotiria TheodoropoulouThis book investigates the changing patterns of labour market and unemployment policies in EU member states during the period since fiscal austerity took hold in 2010 during the deepest postwar recession in Europe. Looking at the big European picture, do we see a convergence or a divergence in labour market and unemployment policy trends and outputs? Has labour market insecurity increased or decreased and can these changes be associated with the observed changes in labour market policies and macroeconomic conditions? Written by leading experts in the field, the book provides detailed national case studies from across the EU, which span labour market regimes and intensities of fiscal pressures to explore whether, and if so how, retrenchment or expansion have taken place across different types of labour market policies and how these changes have been distributed across the well-protected and the less well-protected labour market populations.
Labour Market Theory: A Constructive Reassessment (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)
by Ben FineThis book is a commanding assessment of labour market theory across the social sciences. It provides a radically original critique of labour market theory, which draws constructively but critically on existing literature. The work: * contributes to the debates on key issues in labour economics such as unemployment, gender, equal pay and the minimum theory * illustrates the policy implications in empirical studies * supplements existing orthodox labour market theory texts.
Labour Markets and Identity on the Post-Industrial Assembly Line
by Anthony LloydAs a product of its time, the call centre utilises new developments in telecommunications and information technology to offer cost-efficient delivery systems for customer care. Efficiency, productivity and flexibility are all embodiments of neoliberal market capitalism and are all personified in the call centre operation, as well as the structure of the labour market in general. Thus the individual and the workplace are embedded in a variety of global processes. In order to frame the context in which call centre operations exist today and their employees (mainly young men and women) negotiate the increasingly risky and individualised task of developing an identity or sense of belonging in the world, Labour Markets and Identity on the Post-Industrial Assembly Line sets out the economic, social and political changes over the last three decades that have restructured the labour market, altered the balance between labour, management and the state, and unleashed global market capitalism upon previously sheltered areas of the economy and social life in both Britain and elsewhere. This ground-breaking book offers one of the first real qualitative sociological investigations of a relatively new form of employment, to see what life is like on the 'post-industrial assembly line', whilst also taking a close look at the nature of class, identity and subjectivity in relation to young people coming of age in a world dramatically altered over the last three decades.
The Labour Markets of Emerging Economies
by Sandrine Cazes Sher VerickThe past few decades have witnessed the economic and geopolitical rise of a number of large middle-income countries around the world. This volume focuses on the labour market situations, trends and regulations in these emerging economies.
Labour Markets Under Different Employment Conditions (Routledge Library Editions: Work & Society)
by D. Boddy N. Jones D. I. Mackay J. Brack J. A. DiackOriginally published in 1971, this wide-ranging study illuminates many crucial wage and employment issues by examining the operation of local labour markets and by testing labour market theory against the observed behaviour of employers and employees in different labour market environments. It is based on an empirical investigation of engineering plants both in major conurbations and in smaller labour market areas. There is an emphasis on measurement and quantification, which provides a fund of information on such subjects as wage structures, labour turnover, recruitment and mobility, internal labour markets, manpower forecasting, apprentice training and redundancy. The authors outline the weaknesses of applying economic theory to labour market behaviour.
Labour Migration: The Internal Geographical Mobility of Labour in the Developed World (Routledge Library Editions: Labour Economics #10)
by James H. Johnson John SaltFirst published in 1990. This edited work brings together a collection of studies, by an international team of contributors, on inter-urban migration, which is largely dominated by labour migration. The structure of the book reflects the interaction of the supply and demand of labour and the information flows that make this possible. The book offers a multi-dimensional analysis of labour migration, including behavioural, economic and institutional approaches. It combines various scales of analysis, including the national scale, the occupational scale and the household scale. The study also examines labour migration in a variety of national contexts. It will be of particular value to professional geographers, economists and sociologists with an interest in the distribution of population and the labour force, planners with responsibility for the development of policy and some final year graduate students.
Labour Migration and Social Development in Contemporary China (Comparative Development and Policy in Asia)
by Rachel MurphySince the mid-1980s, mass migration from the countryside to urban areas has been one of the most dramatic and noticeable changes in China. Labour migration has not only exerted a profound impact on China’s economy; it has also had far-reaching consequences for its social development. This book examines labour migration in China, focusing on the social dimensions of this phenomenon, as well as on the economic aspects of the migration and development relationship. It provides in-depth coverage of pertinent topics which include the role of labour migration in poverty alleviation; the social costs of remittance and regional, gender and generational inequalities in their distribution; hukou reform and the inclusion of migrants in urban social security and medical insurance systems; the provision of schools for migrants’ children; the provision of sexual health services to migrants; the housing conditions of migrants; the mobilization of women workers’ social networks to improve labour protection; and the role of NGOs in providing social services for migrants. Throughout, it pays particular attention to policy implications, including the impact of the recent policy shift of the Chinese government, which has made social issues more central to national development policies, and has initiated policy reforms pertaining to migration.
Labour Migration, Human Trafficking and Multinational Corporations: The Commodification of Illicit Flows (Routledge Transnational Crime and Corruption)
by Ato Quayson Antonela ArhinAlthough much literature on human trafficking focuses on sex trafficking, a great deal of human trafficking results from migrant workers, compelled - by economic deprivation in their home countries - to seek better life opportunities abroad, especially in agriculture, construction and domestic work. Such labour migration is sometimes legal and well managed, but sometimes not so – with migrant workers frequently threatened or coerced into entering debt bondage arrangements and ending up working in forced labour situations producing goods for illicit markets. This book fills a substantial gap in the existing literature given that labour trafficking is a much more subtle form of exploitation than sex trafficking. It discusses how far large multinational corporations are involved, whether intentionally or unintentionally, in human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation. They explore how far corporations are driven to seek cheap labour by the need to remain commercially competitive and examine how the problem often lies with corporations’ subcontractors, who are not as well controlled as they might be. The essays in the volume also outline and assess measures being taken by governments and international agencies to eradicate the problem.
Labour Migration in Europe
by Georg Menz Alexander CaviedesExamining the new realities of economic immigration to Europe, this book focuses on new trends and developments, including the rediscovery of economic migration, legalization measures, irregular migration, East-West flows, the role of business and employer associations, new positions amongst trade unions, and service sector liberalization.
Labour Migration in Europe Volume I: Integration and Entrepreneurship among Migrant Workers – A Long-Term View
by Francesca Fauri Paolo TedeschiIn this book, Fauri and Tedeschi bring together contributions that outline the movement of job seekers and ethnic minority entrepreneurs in Europe, to analyse the overall impact of different forms of migration on European economies in the last 100 years. Contributions address a broad range of themes, from the motivations of migrants and the process of their integration into their destination country, to their overall social and economic impact onto said country at a structural level. In addressing questions as to why some ethnic groups seem to compete more successfully in business, as well as addressing questions about how skilled labour can be attracted and retained, this volume forms part of a very important multidisciplinary dialogue on labour migration. The policy implications of answering such questions are also discussed, as contributors ultimately examine whether skills-dependent migration policy needs to form part of a common strategy, either at a national or an international level.
Labour Migration in Europe Volume II: Exploitation and Legal Protection of Migrant Workers
by Marco BorraccettiViolence, deception, fraud and abuse have always been commonplace occurrences for migrants, not only in their final country of destination but also in their countries of origin and countries of transit. In today’s world, the link between mobility and security issues is ever-increasing. Acknowledging this, how can we work to protect and improve migrants’ rights? Is the protection for migrants offered by the EU sufficient as-is, or is a more integrated approach that requires greater cooperation from migrants’ country of origin called for? What role can the private sector play in all of this? In this book, Borraccetti brings together contributions that analyse how migrant exploitation can be combatted. All essays focus on the protection and promotion of human rights and pay particular attention to the rights of children and other vulnerable people.
Labour, Mobility and Informal Practices in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe: Power, Institutions and Mobile Actors in Transnational Space (ISSN)
by Rano Turaeva Rustamjon UrinboyevThis book explores the daily survival strategies of people within the context of failed states, flourishing informal economies, legal uncertainty, increased mobility, and globalization, where many people, who are forced by the circumstances to be innovative and transnational, have found their niches outside formal processes and structures. The book provides a thorough theoretical introduction to the link between labour mobility and informality and comprises convincing case studies from a wide range of post-socialist countries. Overall, it highlights the importance of trust, transnational networks, and digital technologies in settings where the rules governing economic and social activities of mobile workers are often unclear and flexible.
Labour Mobilization, Politics and Globalization in Brazil: Between Militancy And Moderation (Studies of the Americas)
by Marieke RiethofThis book analyses the conflicts that emerged from the Brazilian labour movement’s active participation in a rapidly changing political environment, particularly in the context of the coming to power of a party with strong roots in the labour movement. While the close relations with the Workers' Party (PT) have shaped the labour movement’s political agenda, its trajectory cannot be understood solely with reference to that party’s electoral fortunes. Through a study of the political trajectory of the Brazilian labour movement over the last three decades, the author explores the conditions under which the labour movement has developed militant and moderate strategies.
The Labour Party and Foreign Policy: A History
by John CallaghanThis book provides a penetrating new study of the Labour Party’s thinking on international relations, which probes the past, present and future of the party’s approach to the international stage. The foreign policy of the Labour Party is not only neglected in most histories of the party, it is also often considered in isolation from the party’s origins, evolution and major domestic preoccupations. Yet nothing has been more divisive and more controversial in Labour’s history than the party’s foreign and defence policies and their relationship to its domestic programme. Much more has turned on this than the generation of tempestuous conference debates. Labour’s credentials as a credible prospect for Governmental office were thought to depend on a responsible approach to foreign and defence policy. Its exclusion from office was often said to stem from a failure to meet this test, as in the 1950s. The composition of Labour Cabinets was powerfully influenced by foreign and defence considerations, as was the centralization of power and decision-making within Labour Governments. The domestic achievements and failures of these periods in office were inextricably connected to international questions. The Labour Party and Foreign Policy is recommended for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in British politics and European history.
The Labour Party and Whitehall (Routledge Library Editions: The Labour Movement #38)
by Kevin TheakstonFirst published in 1992. In this lively and controversial book, Kevin Theakston examines the Yes, Minister-style argument popularised by Tony Benn and Richard Crossman that the civil service obstructs Labour government policies. He argues that in fact the Labour party’s problems and failures in office are largely political in origin. The book surveys the development of socialist thinking about Whitehall, and examines the claim of a Labour MP in 1979 that ‘It is as if Labour in office has now lost all stomach for administrative reform.’ Theakston looks at the effectiveness of Labour’s various reform schemes, raising important issues such as politicisation and power in the civil service, Whitehall management, elitism in civil service recruitment, and secrecy and ‘open government’. This book will appeal to researchers and students of British politics, public administration, and history, as well as to all those with an interest in Whitehall reform, or in Labour Party politics.
Labour Power: Virtual and Actual in Digital Production (Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis)
by Roberto CiccarelliThis book offers a critical account of Karl Marx’s dazzling theory of labour power which is also one of the most influential concepts in the history of contemporary philosophy. Labour power is the dark side of the digital revolution. Working men and women are invisible and treated like human service, flesh and blood automatons or organic extensions of a machine that produces data on its own. Automation is viewed as something magic made possible by algorithms whose life is independent of human beings.Labour power, however, has not disappeared. Without drivers, Uber cannot connect customers on its platform; without searches on its browser, Google grinds to a halt; without us, Facebook or Instagram is desert. Labour power is the dwarf hidden inside the puppet of technology that allows algorithms to be intelligent and make the biggest profits in the history of capitalism.The invisible centrality of labour power is the political enigma of our times. Today a new account of the theory of labour power is needed more than ever in order to understand the political economy of digital capitalism on new grounds. Unlike a long tradition in the history of work, labour power is not only the work or the data it produces, but a potency that does not coincide with its current commodification. The actuality of labour power does not exhaust the virtuality that can be actualised by its faculty. Even when reduced to a commodity, labour power does not exhaust the potency of its being otherwise.Immersed in the constant propaganda that boosts the latest technological inventions, we neglect the fact that this wealth is produced by us and that it could be ours precisely because it is a part of our potential to be other than what we are at present. This book is a vibrant invitation to consider the fact that we are always connected with the potency that is constantly at work in our life. If this were not the case, we would not be alive. If we do not strive to become consciously and collectively active, we will never know.
Labour Problems of Technological Change (Routledge Library Editions: Labour Economics #8)
by L. C. Hunter G. L. Reid D. BoddyFirst published in 1970. This book is concerned with the examination and assessment of the impact of changes in technology on companies in three selected industries: printing, steel and chemicals. Its main focus is on the employment and associated labour market effects of technological change; but part of the rationale for the study as a whole has been to relate these effects to the technological environment of each industry. Accordingly, a good deal of attention has been paid to the character of the innovations themselves and to their implications for the industries in general terms. This title will be of interest to students of Business Studies and Economics.
Labour Questions in the Global South
by Praveen Jha Walter Chambati Lyn OssomeThis book provides a focus on some of the main markers and challenges that are at the core of the study of structural transformations in contemporary capitalism and their implications for labour in the Global South. It examines the diverse perspectives and regional and social variations that characterise labour relations as a result of the uneven development which is an important facet of the intensification of capitalist accumulation.. The book provides important insights into the impact of the crises of capitalism on the wellbeing of labour at different historical junctures. Some of the issues covered by it include the conditions of work, and the changing composition of laboring classes and/or working people. The chapters also throw light on the multiple trajectories in the development of labour relations and employment in the Global South, especially after the ascendancy and domination of neoliberal finance capitalism. Some of the major aspects considered by the essays include the decentering of production and development of global value systems, crisis of social reproduction, and the rising informalisation of work.
Labour Relations and Political Change in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Perspective (Routledge Library Editions: The Labour Movement #39)
by Stephen G. JonesFirst published in 1995. This volume offers a comparative perspective on labour relations and political change in eastern Europe within a common theoretical and empirical framework. Its coverage includes Bulgaria, and Czech and Slovak republics, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Particular attention is given to the dynamics of changes in labour relations and privatisation, which are now critical to the more general process of political and economic transformation. This title will be of interest to scholars and students of politics, sociology and modern history.
Labour Relations in Central Europe: The Impact of Multinationals' Money (Contemporary Employment Relations Ser.)
by Jochen Tholen Ludovit Czíria Eike Hemmer Wieslawa Kozek Zdenka MansfeldováSince 1990, foreign direct investment (FDI) has quickened economic modernization in Central Europe. State of the art management techniques and cutting edge technology have been introduced in many cases. Labour Relations is an essential factor in the organization of labour and production. At the start of the process industrial relations were characterized by the conditions existing under the previous planned economies or - as with "greenfield" investments - had to be entirely reconfigured. In the case of investments by West European companies, this book reveals various emerging models of industrial relations but also a clear tendency towards company centralization. For the time being the European Works Council still plays a subordinate role despite its potential fundamental role as mediator between East and West. Empirically nine corporations from the metal/automotive industry, the chemical, energy and food processing industries (with their subsidiaries in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) are considered.
Labour Relations in Development (Routledge Studies In Development Economics #Vol. 27)
by Alex E. Fernández Jilberto Marieke RiethofThis timely and well-written collection explores the impact of economic reforms in developing and transitional economies across the world. In a first of its kind, this book examines such issues as:* in-depth, cross-regional analysis of the pressures for global integration* labour costs and their determinants: crucial factors in the success of econo
Labour Relations in Eastern Europe: Organisational Design and Dynamics (Social Analysis)
by Krastya Petkov J E ThirkellChanges in labour relations in Eastern Europe arising from recent political events can only be understood against an explanation of the existing structures and mechanisms of labour relations. This full-length collaborative study - the first in its field - analyses these structures and mechanisms by focusing on the radical reforms undertaken in Bulgaria over the last decade. Using a wealth of case studies, it looks at the action processes within enterprises and at the processes of strategy formulation on a national level in Bulgaria, and compares them with those processses in other Eastern European countries such as Yugoslavia and Hungary.