Gender is a defining feature of informal/precarious work in the 21st century, yet studies rarely adopt a gendered lens when examining collective efforts to challenge informality and precarity. This volume foregrounds the gendered dimensions of informal/precarious workers' struggles as a crucial starting point for re-theorizing the future of global labor movements. This volume includes six empirical chapters spanning five countries - the United States, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, and India - to explore exactly how gender is intertwined into informal/precarious workers organizing efforts, why gender is addressed, and to what end. The chapters focus on two gender-typed sectors - domestic work and construction - to identify the varying experiences of and struggles against gender and informality/precarity, as well as the conditions of movement success and failure. Across countries and sectors, the volume shows how informal/precarious worker organizations are on the front lines of challenging the multiple forms of gendered inequalities that shape contemporary practices of accumulation and labor regulation. Their struggles are making major transformations in terms of increasing women's leadership and membership in labor movements and exposing how gender interacts with other ascriptive identities to shape work. They are also re-shaping hegemonic scripts of capitalist accumulation, development, and gender to attain recognition for female-dominated occupations and reproductive needs for the first time ever. These outcomes are crucial as sources of emancipatory transformations at a time when state and public support for labor and social protection is facing the deep assault of transnational production and globalizing markets.

James Latimore considers the problem of good results or good reports in the context of his study of one small agency's transition from financial independence to government funding dependence. As Latimore points out, private philanthropy has played a large role in America's social and economic history. In recent years, government funding has flowed into private agencies. What happens when private and public overlap? Does public funding change the direction of an agency? Does it become less client centered and more program oriented? How is this change manifested? What specific changes occur in the heretofore private philanthropy? Latimore's study shows that the strengths of philanthropic intervention may be negated by the bureaucratic accountability that accompanies public funding. Latimore suggests that accountability alters the thrust and management of programs in order to show good results.

This book analyzes the effects of wives' employment on the economic status of families, using both descriptive and empirical research. The historical and socio-economic causes of change in the employment status of wives and husbands are detailed. The empirical studies respond to some basic questions about dual-earner families: How does having an employed wife influence family lifestyles? What effects do dual-earners have on the finances of their households and on the distribution of income? What policy changes are needed to recognize the economic importance of dual-earner families? In Working Wives and Dual-Earner Families, one-earner and dual-earner families are differentiated, with particular attention to the impact of wives' employment status (full-time or part-time) on household decision making. Among the most interesting research findings are: total family income or tax bracket and the cost of child care are among the critical determinants of dual-earner employment; married-couple families at the same level of income have very similar expenditure patterns regardless of whether the wife is employed; full-time working wives make the distribution of income less equal, but part-time working wives generate greater equality in the distribution of income; families with full-time working wives have higher income, but they do not save more or have greater financial assets than other families; families with part-time employed wives are similar to those with non-employed wives and differ from families with full-time employed wives. The authors conclude that the real incomes of dual-earner families will continue to grow, as one-earner real income remains the same or declines. Household planning and decision making will increasingly be predicated upon having two earners, which will be perceived as the norm. Dual-earner families, based on amenities, mobility, growing families, and demands for public goods, will drive private markets and public policy.

This book offers an assessment of the performance, impact, and welfare implications of the world's largest employment guarantee programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Launched by the Indian government, the programme covers entire rural area of the country. The book presents various micro-level analyses of the programme and its heterogeneous impacts at different scales, almost a decade after its implementation. While there are some doubts over the future of the scheme as well as its magnitude, nature and content, the central government appears committed to it, as a 'convergence scheme' of various other welfare and rural development programmes being implemented at both national and state level. The book discusses the outcomes of the programme and offers critical insights into the lessons learnt, not only in the context of India, but also for similar schemes in countries in South and South-East Asia as well as in Africa, and Latin America. Adopting inter-disciplinary perspectives in analysing these issues, this unique book uses a judicious mix of methods---integrating quantitative and qualitative tools---and will be an invaluable resource for analysts, NGOs, policymakers and academics alike.

New developments in legislation have increased the availability of employment. These advances result in long-term improvement of economic and sustainable development. Employment Protection Legislation in Emerging Economies is a critical scholarly resource that examines legislation relating to employment protection in developing economies and its impacts on unemployment, job creation, productivity, and the efficiency of the labor market. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as labor reform, job creation, and the social protection agenda, this book is geared towards academicians, practitioners, and researchers seeking current research on legislation relating to employment protection.

This book aims to tackle the issues that are central to understanding and addressing one of the most important employment policy problems facing governments in the UK and beyond: the high number of people of working age claiming 'disability' or 'incapacity' benefits. Gathering evidence from leading UK scholars, alongside comparative contributions on Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands, the book considers a number of questions including, how do health problems and other barriers work to combine to limit opportunities for labour market participation among claimants of IBs?; How do different local and regional economic conditions shape these individuals' opportunities and experiences of labour market exclusion?; What processes lead to transitions onto IBs and what could be done to retain people with health problems in employment?; How appropriate are the rationale, content and governance of active labour market policies that seek to promote transitions from IBs into work?; and what works in helping people claiming IBs to cope with health problems and/or make progress towards work?

The United States is becoming an information-based, service economy with fewer middle-income jobs than in an industrial economy. How does increasing service sector employment affect community income and thus social well-being? This well-documented study assesses the impact of changing levels of employment in the service and manufacturing sectors on the level and distribution of community income. The study includes both analyses of low-wage and high-wage service and manufacturing sectors and analyses of major segments of the service sector, including business services and retail trade. Measures of social well-being include changes in community aggregate income, aggregate wages and salaries, distribution of income within the community, and the community's position in the regional hierarchy. Particular attention is given to differences in impact on rural and urban communities. The book will be of interest to those concerned with rural economic development and issues related to inequality and economic and industrial change.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, German cultural attitudes of paternalism and partriarchy heavily influenced the entrance of women into the labor force. To make German working women visible in their nation's economic and social history, Franzoi examines the relationship between female labor and the production process. This book focuses on women at the intersection of work and family and discusses their work choices during a time of rapid economic development.

An increasing amount of attention has been focused on the employment effect of governmental regulation. Controversy over the implementation and impacts of governmental rules are now central to current public policy debates relating to employment and labor markets. A new policy framework for regulation is needed to make the regulatory decision-making process more responsive to the requirements for economic growth and to the employment effects of regulation. The President and Congress need to provide effective oversight of the process, from the perspective of both a single regulation and a government-wide approach to regulatory planning. Regulatory agencies need to use state-of-the-art analytical tools so that they can better determine the employment effects of their regulatory actions. This book presents a common-sense, albeit highly sophisticated and technical, approach to improving the technical soundness, credibility, and transparency of the regulatory decision-making process.

How did the alliance between labor and the Democratic Party develop after the First World War? What role does Evansville play in an examination of this alliance? What was the impact of the alliance on U.S politics and society? These are some of the questions that Samuel W. White tackles in his book Fragile Alliances: Labor and Politics in Evansville, Indiana, 1919-1955. Focusing on Evansville, Indiana, as a case study, White challenges traditional assumptions in the field, such as the following: labor has one political voice; labor is monolithic in electoral politics; the New Deal successfully reordered American society and politics. White examines the roles played by political repression, opposition by employers, and anticommunist forces within the community as well as the labor movement in undermining the labor-Democratic Party alliance in Evansville. He contends that by the 1950s, the impact of these forces blunted the potential of the labor movement and the Democratic Party to transform the political system by giving workers and their allies a permanent political space in electoral politics. How did the alliance between labor and the Democratic Party develop after the First World War? What role does Evansville play in an examination of this alliance? What was the impact of the alliance on U.S politics and society? These are some of the questions that White tackles in his book Fragile Alliances: Labor and Politics in Evansville, Indiana, 1919-1955. Focusing on Evansville, Indiana, as a case study, White challenges traditional assumptions in the field, such as the following: labor has one political voice; labor is monolithic in electoral politics; the New Deal successfully reordered American society and politics. White examines the roles played by political repression, opposition by employers, and anticommunist forces within the community as well as the labor movement in undermining the labor-Democratic Party alliance in Evansville. He contends that by the 1950s, the impact of these forces blunted the potential of the labor movement and the Democratic Party to transform the political system by giving workers and their allies a permanent political space in electoral politics. Much of the published literature on labor and politics in the U.S. is focused on national events and organizations that make labor appear as a monolith in electoral politics. White diverges from the national focus of the majority of this literature, instead looking at labor and politics at the local level. While much of the published literature argues that the alliance between labor and the Democratic Party in the 1930s was a formidable force that reordered American society and politics, White shows that in Evansville, the alliance was anything but that. Racked by political repression, opposition by employers, and anticommunist forces within the community and the labor movement itself, the alliance was remarkably fragile and incapable of sustaining the momentum it had established in the 1930s.

This comprehensive book presents an original reconstruction of the different interpretations of the Phillips curve. The authors demonstrate through an in-depth analysis how it is possible to find non-neoclassical foundations in the trade-off between inflation and unemployment. The debate is presented from a historical perspective which charts the evolution of the Phillips curve from a non-neoclassical perspective, taking account of post Keynesian literature.In the first part of the book the authors focus on the origins of the Phillips curve and they critically analyse Richard Lipsey's interpretation and approach to the Phillips curve. They then explore the neoclassical and monetarist interpretation, paying special attention to the evolution of monetarism and the Keynesian critique of this approach. The Kaleckian, Keynesian and Marxist interpretations of the Phillips trade-off are then presented. Here the authors show how the relationship between inflation, unemployment and money described in these approaches accurately reflects the fundamental features of today's capitalist economies. In the final section a new Phillips curve is constructed, taking into account the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment and the hysteresis of it. Inflation, Unemployment and Money will be of interest to macroeconomists, post Keynesians and monetary and financial economists.

In the face of globalization, workers feel less secure in their jobs and fear wage losses and unemployment. This book explores these issues, asking whether the concerns are warranted.It brings together recent work in an important and rapidly expanding area. It provides comprehensive coverage of both theoretical and empirical aspects. It takes popular concerns about globalization seriously.Although economists have long pointed to the aggregate gains from increased economic integration, the popular perception of globalization is much more pessimistic.

Unemployment costs the United States at least $400 billion per year in lost output. This number does not begin to add up the total costs of unemployment that include many serious social problems like increased divorce and crime rates. If unemployment costs so much, why don't we simply pump up demand and push the unemployment rate down? The answer lies in the relationship between inflation and unemployment: we simply cannot push unemployment below the rate that is compatable with stable inflation.

Must we, then, just live with unemployment? No. But to understand how we can reduce unemployment, we must understand the nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU). What determines the level of the NAIRU? Has that level increased? Can we reduce the current NAIRU? These are important questions addressed in "Reducing Unemployment" Ottosen and Thompson argue that the NAIRU has increased significantly over the past 30 years. Many blame structural unemployment for that increase. Others have argued that increases in social welfare programs and payments are to blame. But hardly anyone has examined the effects of increasing government regulations on the NAIRU. "Reducing Unemployment" remedies this oversight, and also looks at the effects of unionization and productivity on the NAIRU. The authors conclude that the United States does not have to tolerate a high unemployment rate, for the NAIRU can be reduced through appropriate government deregulation.

From the larger field of women and employment law, Maschke has carved out a study that focuses exclusively on the impact Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act has had on women workers. . . . Maschke focus es] on the history of women workers from the days of protective laws, through the difficult birth of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to present-day struggles involving pregnant workers, sexual harassment, and comparable worth. Although legalistically oriented, the book is also attuned to the political in noting diverse strategies among women's organizations and the varying congressional and presidential commitments to the promotion of the equality of women's workers. . . . Concise and readable with a select bibliography and index. "Choice"

A major contribution to the literature on the legal rights of women workers, this volume combines empirical investigation and case law analysis to provide a thorough study of sex discrimination litigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the author notes at the outset, Title VII, although not a panacea for sex discrimination, is the most important federal statute guaranteeing equality in the workplace for women workers. Her study examines how women have fared in Title VII litigation and how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), as the government's enforcement agency, played a role in Title VII litigation and in the development of legal policy in this area.

Divided into three major sections, the volume begins by exploring the protective labor laws that restricted women's job opportunities at the turn of the century. Maschke goes on to trace the origins of Title VII and to examine the political controversy surrounding the use of litigation to enforce Title VII. The second section analyzes the development of law resulting from cases involving pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, wage discrimination, and protective policies. In addition to case law analysis, these chapters examine the EEOC's response to the issues and demonstrate that the agency has often been inconsistent in developing sex discrimination policies. In the final section, Maschke addresses group and EEOC litigation activities in sex discrimination cases, focusing on aspects of decision making in the federal courts. The concluding chapter considers how courts and the litigation process played a role in expanding the rights of women workers.

Based on new empirical evidence, this book provides a comparative analysis of the transition from school to work across the European Union. It examines the negative impacts of the recent employment turbulences on school leavers' integration into the labour market, as well as identifying the individual, social, and economic factors that facilitate smooth transitions.

In this volume, Alexander sketches the history of organized labor in the countries of Uruguay and Paraguay. He covers such topics as the role of organized labor in the economics and politics of these two countries and their relations with the international labor movement. It is based on extensive personal contacts of the author with the labor movements over almost half a century. It may seem unusual at first to have both of these countries in one volume because there does not exist anywhere else in Latin America such historical political disparity between neighboring countries as that between Uruguay and Paraguay. However, in spite of the political contrasts, there are certain similarities in the history of the labor movements of these two republics. In both Uruguay and Paraguay, the earliest organizations to be founded by the workers were mutual benefit societies, rather than trade unions. But in both countries, trade unions which sought to protect their members against employers began to appear. By the early years of the 20th century, these unions began to demand that employers negotiate with them, and there were an increasing number of strikes, attempting to make these demands effective. There were soon efforts to bring together the various trade unions into broader local, national, and international labor organizations.

This volume argues that while labour market reforms may be necessary in some specific cases, by no means are labour market policies the main explanation for the widespread increase in unemployment and underemployment across Asia and country specific studies undermine the case for across-the-board labour market reforms.

Part One of this book deals with the theory of how money is created and destroyed. Essential principles are illustrated by considering various models of banking systems. Part Two provides an account of the modern theory of income and employment. * Theory backed up with examples of the simplest to the most complicated models, for example: * The model of "a closed economy without a government" to one in which government expenditure and revenue affect the level of national income * The model in which the rate of interest and quantity of money have no effect and the model in which they are variables relevant to the determination of income

This book examines the impact of globalization on employment, income distribution and poverty reduction in developing countries using the five country studies of Ghana, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nepal, and Vietnam. Market failures, possible displacement of previously sheltered economic activities, disparities in the initial levels of human capital and technological transfer associated with skill biased technological change may imply both an increasing within-country income inequality and an uneven process of job creation and poverty alleviation. This evidence paves the way for targeted economic and social policies both at national and international levels.

This edited collection provides the first in-depth analysis of social policies and the risks faced by young people. The book explores the effects of both the economic crisis and austerity policies on the lives of young Europeans, examining both the precarity of youth transitions, and the function of welfare state policies.

The manufacture of apparel is an exemplar of global production. Since the 1970s, multinational brands have increasingly outsourced their manufacturing activities to lower cost production locations in developing countries. The low entry barriers and minimal investments needed in apparel led to booming employment in apparel factories in regions where formal employment was limited and where new opportunities were created especially for young, unskilled women and migrant workers who had access to waged labour for the first time. While this translated into higher labour force participation rates and new empowerment opportunities for these previously marginalised groups, it also appeared increasingly clear that workers were often exploited in order to keep production costs competitive in the global marketplace. This volume provides solutions-oriented approaches for promoting improved working conditions and labour rights in the apparel industry, by analysing how workers, governments and business can strive to collaborate in order to confront some of the key opportunities and challenges pertaining to labour in global apparel value chains.

Europe's notoriously high level of unemployment is one of the big puzzles of empirical macroeconomics. In recent years the unemployment rate has fallen in The Netherlands, but the overall level in OECD Europe remains high. An investigation into why Dutch economic policy has been relatively effective could be useful for the unemployment debate in Europe. This book contributes to this investigation with its empirical analysis covering three important topics.

The first part of the book investigates whether (macro) economic policies could be effective in reducing unemployment in the short run. This depends on the cause of unemployment: is it due to lack of demand for goods, or is it due to a shortage of capacity. Another question is whether macroeconomic policies can be directed to one side of the market.

The high rate of unemployment among low-skilled workers is the topic of the second part of this book. How important is the impact of wage inflexibility at the lower tail of the income distribution due to institutional factors? To what extent is it caused by skill-biased technological change? A central issue is, again, how economic policy could contribute to reducing unemployment among low-skilled workers?

The persistence of unemployment is investigated in the third part. Since the early eighties, Dutch policymakers have employed wage moderation as a remedy for unemployment in The Netherlands. Substantial cutbacks were made in the social security programme. This had a moderating effect on wages, which is thought to have contributed to employment growth. However, unemployment remained rather high up to 1997. Why didn't unemployment fall morequickly?

To answer these questions, economists have developed different structural macroeconometric models. The Netherlands has a rich tradition in using macroeconomic models for policy analysis. This tradition originates in the work of Jan Tinbergen, Nobel laureate in economics, and the first director of CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. This book, which builds on CPB's broad experience with macroeconomic modelling, makes an important contribution to this fine Dutch tradition.

Work and Idleness develops the view that redistributing employment is a feasible capitalist' solution, not just to the unemployment which particular groups suffer, but also to the work that others have to contend with, including many women. Putting the redistribution of employment on the policy agenda opens up debate on how to ensure a more equitable and fulfilling relationship between the ways we gain our livelihoods and the lives we lead. Growing insecurity in labour markets and changing patterns in the commodification of labour have led to a redistribution of paid and unpaid labour time as the structure of power relations, the gender order, discrimination, and state regulation have been modified. The first main trend affecting insecurity is mass unemployment and the growth of workless households. A second notable trend is a gender-based redistribution of hours worked. The third major trend is a shift from full-time waged work to full-time self-employment. Part I of this book presents the main economic theories driving the continuing divide between the intensification of work and the extension of idleness. Part II documents the ways in which the shift to mass idleness in advanced industrial countries has hit some groups particularly hard: the youngest and oldest age groups and other groups, including disabled workers, have traditionally been subject to discrimination in the labor markets. Part III provides a set of policy prescriptions.

'A convincing and comprehensive account of the success and ultimate failure of Keynesianism in Australia ... Essential reading, not only for other doughty fighters but for skeptics and critics as well' - G.C. Harcourt This analysis proposes a political explanation for the breakdown of Keynesian full employment in Australia. It taps into the current literature that examines the role of economic interests, ideas, and institutions, and, by taking issue with the arguments of anti-Keynesian economists, the book carries the argument that there was and is nothing inherently contradictory about Keynesian theory or much of its practice. Keynesianism, its imperfections notwithstanding, was overturned because of a powerful alliance of interests and ideas.