Since the onset of the Great Recession, Germany's economy has been praised for its superior performance, which has been reminiscent of the "economic miracle" of the 1950s and 1960s. Such acclaim is ...surprising because Germany's economic institutions were widely dismissed as faulty just a decade ago. InHolding the Shop Together, Stephen J. Silvia examines the oscillations of the German economy across the entire postwar period through one of its most important components: the industrial relations system.
As Silvia shows in this wide-ranging and deeply informed account, the industrial relations system is strongest where the German economy is strongest and is responsible for many of the distinctive features of postwar German capitalism. It extends into the boardrooms, workplaces and government to a degree that is unimaginable in most other countries. Trends in German industrial relations, moreover, influence developments in the broader German economy and, frequently, industrial relations practice abroad. All these aspects make the German industrial relations regime an ideal focal point for developing a deeper understanding of the German economy as a whole.
Silvia begins by presenting the framework of the German industrial relations system-labor laws and the role of the state-and then analyzes its principal actors: trade unions and employers' associations. He finds the framework sound but the actors in crisis because of membership losses. Silvia analyzes the reasons behind the losses and the innovative strategies German labor and management have developed in their efforts to reverse them. He concludes with a comprehensive picture and then considers the future of German industrial relations.
We classify the empirical literature on the wage impact of immigration into three groups, where studies in the first two groups estimate different relative effects, and studies in the third group ...estimate the total effect of immigration on wages. We interpret the estimates obtained from the different approaches through the lens of the canonical model to demonstrate that they are not comparable. We then relax two key assumptions in this literature, allowing for inelastic and heterogeneous labor supply elasticities of natives and the "downgrading" of immigrants. "Downgrading" occurs when the position of immigrants in the labor market is systematically lower than the position of natives with the same observed education and experience levels. Downgrading means that immigrants receive lower returns to the same measured skills than natives when these skills are acquired in their country of origin. We show that heterogeneous labor supply elasticities, if ignored, may complicate the interpretation of wage estimates, and particularly the interpretation of relative wage effects. Moreover, downgrading may lead to biased estimates in those approaches that estimate relative effects of immigration, but not in approaches that estimate total effects. We conclude that empirical models that estimate total effects not only answer important policy questions, but are also more robust to alternative assumptions than models that estimate relative effects.
<!CDATA In Working Women into the Borderlands , author Sonia Hernández sheds light on how women’s labor was shaped by US capital in the northeast region of Mexico and how women’s labor activism ...simultaneously shaped the nature of foreign investment and relations between Mexicans and Americans. As capital investments fueled the growth of heavy industries in cities and ports such as Monterrey and Tampico, women’s work complemented and strengthened their male counterparts’ labor in industries which were historically male-dominated. As Hernández reveals, women laborers were expected to maintain their “proper” place in society, and work environments were in fact gendered and class-based. Yet, these prescribed notions of class and gender were frequently challenged as women sought to improve their livelihoods by using everyday forms of negotiation including collective organizing, labor arbitration boards, letter writing, creating unions, assuming positions of confianza (“trustworthiness”), and by migrating to urban centers and/or crossing into Texas. Drawing extensively on bi-national archival sources, newspapers, and published records, Working Women into the Borderlands demonstrates convincingly how women’s labor contributions shaped the development of one of the most dynamic and contentious borderlands in the globe. >
Gilbert Mireles explores the legendary United Farm Workers' campaign to organize laborers-predominantly Latino immigrants-in California's strawberry industry. Tracing the UFW's actions from the ...picking fields to the world of government offices and corporate boardrooms, Mireles shows how the very traits that made the union such a successful advocate for farm workers also inhibited the meaningful participation of those same workers in the union. His systematic analysis of one of the most influential social movements in the country points to troubling implications for the place of immigrants-and the role of civil society and participatory democracy-in US society.
There is one asset that poor people have in abundance: labor. Thus, what distinguishes the poor from the non-poor in low income countries is, simply, their ability to sell labor at a good price. It ...should be of little surprise, then, that enhancing the poor's access to employment is increasingly recognized as key to development. But while the creation of "good" jobs for the poor has become a policy priority for many developing countries, the mechanisms by which employment stimulates growth and reduces poverty have, until now, not been well understood. This book aims to help fill that gap. Focusing on labor market mobility as a central mechanism for both growth and poverty reduction, it brings together contributions originally presented at a conference organized by the World Bank's Poverty Reduction and Development Effectiveness department in June 2006. Using examples from all continents, these papers discuss why multi-segmented labor markets offer a good starting point for analysis, what role the informal sector plays in employment, whether self-employment is an engine of growth, how worker mobility affects income, and how firm dynamics affect both growth and employment through job creation and destruction.
"The experience of Central and Eastern Europe is unique. It is evidence of great success in demolishing the communist system and building a market economy. It is also evidence of major remaining ...challenges. This excellent book should be read not only by EU politicians and bureaucrats, but should serve as a manual for those who are concerned with the long-term development of their country, political pragmatists, researchers and others involved in the reform of social policy." Andris Berzins, former Prime Minister and Minister of Welfare of Latvia Labor Markets and Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe summarises social policy reform during the transition and EU accession and analyses the social policy challenges which continue to face both old and new member states. Specifically, the book amplifies two sets of arguments. First, social policy under communism was in important respects well-suited to the old order and – precisely for that reason – was systematically badly-suited to a market economy. Strategic reform directions thus followed from the nature of the transition process and from constraints imposed by EU accession. Secondly, successful accession is not the end of the story: economic and social trends over the past 50 years are creating strains for social policy which all countries – old and new members – will have to face. This book will be of interest to readers interested in social policy, particularly those with an interest in the process of post-communist transition, in EU accession, and in future social policy challenges for the wider Europe. It should be of interest to academics in departments of economics, social policy and political science, and to policy makers, including government advisers and civil servants. This book is a sequel to Labor Markets and Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: The Transition and Beyond, also edited by Nicholas Barr (ISBN 0-19-520998-2. $US22).
Immigration controls are often presented by government as a means of ensuring 'British jobs for British workers' and protecting migrants from exploitation. However, in practice they can undermine ...labour protections. As well as a tap regulating the flow of labour, immigration controls function as a mould, helping to form types of labour with particular relations to employers and the labour market. In particular, the construction of institutionalised uncertainty, together with less formalised migratory processes, help produce 'precarious workers' over whom employers and labour users have particular mechanisms of control.
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleIs job insecurity the new norm? With fewer and fewer people working in steady, long-term positions for one employer, has the dream of a secure job with full ...benefits and a decent salary become just that - a dream?In Nice Work If You Can Get It, Andrew Ross surveys the new topography of the global workplace and finds an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven development on a massive scale. Combining detailed case studies with lucid analysis and graphic prose, he looks at what the new landscape of contingent employment means for workers across national, class, and racial lines - from the emerging creative class of high-wage professionals to the multitudes of temporary, migrant, or low-wage workers. Developing the idea of precarious livelihoods to describe this new world of work and life, Ross explores what it means in developed nations - comparing the creative industry policies of the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, as well as developing countries - by examining the quickfire transformation of China's labor market. He also responds to the challenge of sustainability, assessing the promise of green jobs through restorative alliances between labor advocates and environmentalists.Ross argues that regardless of one's views on labor rights, globalization, and quality of life, this new precarious and indefinite life,and and the pitfalls and opportunities that accompany it is likely here to stay and must be addressed in a systematic way. A more equitable kind of knowledge society emerges in these pages - less skewed toward flexploitation and the speculative beneficiaries of intellectual property, and more in tune with ideals and practices that are fair, just, and renewable.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden today all enjoy a reputation for strong labour movements, which in turn are widely seen as part of a distinctive regional approach to politics, ...collective bargaining and welfare. But as this volume demonstrates, narratives of the so-called "Nordic model" can obscure the fact that experiences of work and the fortunes of organized labour have varied widely throughout the region and across different historical periods. Together, the essays collected here represent an ambitious intervention in labour historiography and European history, exploring themes such as work, unions, politics and migration from the early modern period to the twenty-first century.
The Meanings of Work Antunes, Ricardo
2012, 2012-10-15, 20130101, Volume:
43
eBook
Contrary to the affirmation of the end of labour, The Meanings of Work explore the complexity of the working class today; the sexual division of labour and transversalities between the dimensions of ...class and gender; globalisation of capital and labour.
PDF
