This article focuses on the growth of non-standard employment arrangements in those segments of the labour market in developing countries that were previously the locus of ‘standard’ jobs. While ...informality is still a significant concern in developing countries, the increase in non-standard employment has compounded problems for workers and the labour market, adding to the already heightened levels of insecurity. In addition, by weakening the employment relationship, enterprises have less of an incentive to invest in the training of their workers or in productivity-enhancing technology or organizational improvements, potentially undermining economic development. Never the less, these issues can be addressed through regulations that lessen differences in contractual arrangements, as well as by restricting the use of non-standard employment. Governments should consider instituting and enforcing these measures for the benefit of workers, but also for firms, and for economic development in general.
Labour market institutions, including collective bargaining, the regulation of employment contracts and social protection policies, are instrumental for improving the well-being of workers, their ...families and society. In many countries, these institutions have been eroded, whilst in other countries they do not exist at all.
The tech workforce you don’t see Berg, Janine
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
01/2022, Volume:
375, Issue:
6579
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
From fulfillment centers to social media sites, human labor is essential to digital success
In their comment on the article on Uber driver-partners by Jonathan Hall and Alan Krueger, the authors analyze the article’s methodological problems, including sample bias, leading questions, ...selective reporting of findings, and an overestimation of driver earnings, which do not account for the full range of jobrelated expenses and is based on outdated data. The authors also argue that Hall and Krueger make unsubstantiated claims that extend beyond the scope of their research and ignore a rapidly growing literature that is critical of the Uber model as well as the broader for-hire vehicle industry in which Uber operates. As policymakers grapple with how to respond to transport network companies, the authors argue that a fuller understanding of the costs and benefits of services such as Uber is critical for making informed policies.
Government responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic have differed in scope and design, with important implications for the labour market as a whole but also for specific groups of workers. Using labour ...force survey data from seven middle‐ and high‐income countries, this article analyses transitions in the labour market in the first two quarters of 2020 and compares them with transitions in the previous year. The authors find that governments that favoured wage subsidies over other forms of income support were able to lessen labour market volatility, but that in all seven countries studied the COVID‐19 pandemic exacerbated labour market inequalities.
Concerns about technology and the future of work have focused on technology replacing jobs and the possibility of a future without work. Since Frey and Osborne's (2013) study estimating that 47% of ...U.S. jobs are at risk of automation,1 with those performing routine tasks most likely to be affected, there has been a deluge of articles and books in the popular press on the impending jobs apocalypse and what to do with the masses in a future without work.2 Some of this debate has been tempered by other studies emphasizing that the automation of tasks will transform jobs-rather than shed jobs-allowing workers to focus on the more creative and social aspects of the work.3 Others have rightly noted that there is an "automation paradox," in that the quest to eliminate human labor through automation "always generates new tasks for humans."4 Thus, even in those occupations where human labor is made redundant, new jobs will emerge, as has been the case since the first industrial revolution.5I share the view that technological change will not bring an end to work, and argue that what we are witnessing instead is increased precariousness in the labor market. Technology is thus a tool used by enterprises to "displace labor," to more precarious and invisible forms of work.6 As such, the current technological revolution is merely another chapter of a decades' long trend, accelerated under globalization, that relies on an increased use of more insecure labor, including contract labor, temporary employment, and casual work. "Technology" doesn't do this on its own-it is designed by humans to outsource tasks that worsen employment and income security by shifting financial risks onto workers. Technology can also worsen other aspects of job quality, if designed to lessen control and autonomy of the worker. Thus, greater precariousness and poorer job quality are the more likely outcome of the present technological revolution. Yet nothing about these trends is inevitable, as it does not reflect the technology per se, but how it is used, and the lack of governance of the new forms of employment that have emerged.
Resumen
Las respuestas estatales ante la pandemia de COVID‐19 han diferido en cuanto a alcance y diseño, con importantes implicaciones para el mercado laboral en general, y para grupos específicos de ...trabajadores. Utilizando datos de encuestas de población activa de siete países de renta media y alta, se analizan las transiciones laborales entre los dos primeros trimestres de 2020 en comparación con las de 2019. Se observa que la pandemia exacerbó las desigualdades en los siete países; cuando se favorecieron los subsidios salariales frente a otras formas de apoyo a los ingresos se redujo la volatilidad del mercado laboral.
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