This book examines the migration trends, drivers, and impacts among skilled workers within the European Union (EU). It assesses the economic benefits and costs of skilled migration in the short and long term and formulates policy recommendations to address the costs that migration induces while maximizing its benefits.

While Europe is certainly one of the richest and most educated areas of the world, some of the challenges faced by the old continent are staggering: low economic growth, structural difficulties in the labour market, and increasing international competition. Politicians and policymakers may advocate different means of overcoming the potential economic decline of Europe, but most agree that Europe needs to strengthen human capital, its ultimate competitive advantage in the world economy.
This book looks at the accumulation of human capital from two perspectives, first through formal education and then professional training. It provides a useful summary of the key characteristics of education and training in Europe and also asks key questions about the fundamental problems with the current educational and training systems. More importantly, the book goes on to discuss which policies are necessary to make existing education and training systems more efficient, while also making higher skills available to a wider range of people.

Guy Standing's immensely influential 2011 book introduced the Precariat as an emerging mass class, characterized by inequality and insecurity. Standing outlined the increasingly global nature of the Precariat as a social phenomenon, especially in the light of the social unrest characterized by the Occupy movements. He outlined the political risks they might pose, and at what might be done to diminish inequality and allow such workers to find a more stable labour identity.His concept and his conclusions have been widely taken up by thinkers from Noam Chomsky to Zygmunt Bauman, by political activists and by policy-makers. This new book takes the debate a stage further-looking in more detail at the kind of progressive politics that might form the vision of a Good Society in which such inequality, and the instability it produces is reduced. "A Precariat Charter "discusses how rights - political, civil, social and economic - have been denied to the Precariat, and at the importance of redefining our social contract around notions of associational freedom, agency and the commons. The ecological imperative is also discussed - something that was only hinted at in Standing's original book but has been widely discussed in relation to the Precariat by theorists and activists alike.

This book examines the effectiveness of trade and non-trade policies to combat the menace of child labour. Although it has decreased on the global scale in recent years, child labour still remains high, particularly in the developing countries. Keeping in mind the estimated extent of child labour in different regions around the globe, the book offers a detailed critical review of both theoretical and empirical literature on the topic as well as the policies to reduce the incidence of child labour. It also develops a general equilibrium model to demonstrate the possible effects of growth-promoting, non-trade policies, as opposed to direct trade policies, on child labour employment mitigation. The book argues that of the non-trade policies, the introduction of compulsory education appears to be an effective instrument for curtailing the child labour problem when families receive targeted subsidies for sending their children to school. It also shows that appropriately designed and targeted education subsidies can reduce the incidence of child labour and that social protection measures, such as subsidies on school enrolment, also tend to have a positive impact. The book not only opens up research topics for academicians but is also a valuable resource for policy makers.

In Agrarian History of the Cuban Revolution, the Brazilian historian Joana Salem Vasconcelos presents in clear language the complicate challenge of overcoming Latin America's underdevelopment condition, even though a revolutionary process. Based on diverse historical sources, she demonstrates why the sugar plantation economic structure in Cuba was not entirely changed by the 1959's Revolution. The author narrates in detail the three dimensions of Cuban agrarian transformation during the decisive 1960s - the land tenure system, the crop regime, and the labour regime -, and its social and political actors. She explains the paths and detours of Cuban agrarian policies, contextualized in a labour-intensive economy that needs desperately to increase productivity and, at the same time, promised widely to emancipate workers from labour exploitation. Cuban agrarian and economic contradictions are well-synthetized with the concept of Peripheral Socialism.

This book is Karl Widerquist's first statement of the "indepentarian" theory of justice, or what he calls "Justice as the Pursuit of Accord" (JPA). It provides five arguments for UBI, one based on the JPA theory of freedom, another based on the JPA theory of property, and three that reply to common objections to UBI. Each of these three turns the argument around using the central concepts in a justification for UBI. Although the central argument is for one specific policy proposal, this book's perspective is much wider, including very basic criticism of social-contract-based and natural-rights-based theories of justice.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population of any region of the world, and that growing working-age population represents a major opportunity to reduce poverty and increase shared prosperity. But the region's workforce is the least skilled in the world, constraining economic prospects. Despite economic growth, declining poverty, and investments in skills-building, too many students in too many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not acquiring the foundational skills they need to thrive and prosper in an increasingly competitive global economy. This report examines the balancing act that individuals and countries face in making productive investments in both a wide range of skills - cognitive, socio-emotional, and technical - and a wide range of groups - young children through working adults - so that Sub-Saharan Africa will thrive.

For every person who reads this text on the printed page, many more will read it on a computer screen or mobile device. It's a situation that we increasingly take for granted in our digital era, and while it is indicative of the novelty of twenty-first-century capitalism, it is also the key to understanding its driving force: the relentless impulse to commodify our lives in every aspect. Ursula Huws ties together disparate economic, cultural, and political phenomena of the last few decades to form a provocative narrative about the shape of the global capitalist economy at present. She examines the way that advanced information and communications technology has opened up new fields of capital accumulation: in culture and the arts, in the privatization of public services, and in the commodification of human sociality by way of mobile devices and social networking. These trends are in turn accompanied by the dramatic restructuring of work arrangements, opening the way for new contradictions and new forms of labor solidarity and struggle around the planet. Labor in the Global Digital Economy is a forceful critique of our dizzying contemporary moment, one that goes beyond notions of mere connectedness or free-flowing information to illuminate the entrenched mechanisms of exploitation and control at the core of capitalism.

Income Distribution was written primarily as a textbook intended for undergraduate economics majors. The material, however, is treated with sufficient rigor to meet the needs of first year graduate students also. The book may also serve the needs of sociologists and political scientists who are primarily interested in the related social justice topics of income inequality and poverty. Each chapter is logically connected with the preceding chapters, providing a general overview of income distribution and its applications.

The ABC of the projectariat contributes new thinking on and practical responses to the widespread problem of precarious labour in the field of contemporary art. It works as both a critical analysis and a practical handbook, speaking to and about the vast cohort of artistic freelancers worldwide. In an accessible ABC format, the book strikes a unique balance between the practical and the theoretical: the analysis is backed up by lived experience, the arguments are rooted in concrete examples and there are suggestions for constructive action. Roughly half of the entries expose the structural underpinnings of projects and circulation, isolating traits such as opportunism, neoliberalism, inequality, fear and cynicism at the root of the condition of the projectariat. This discussion is paired with a practical account of different modes of action, such as art strikes, productive withdrawals, political struggles and better social time machines. Just as proletarians had nothing to lose but their chains, the projectarians have nothing to miss but their deadlines. -- .

Rapid changes within the modern business landscape have created new demands for human resources management. With a different set of challenges to face, human resources managers must implement novel approaches to improve policy effectiveness. Strategic Labor Relations Management in Modern Organizations is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on emerging human resource practices in relation to labor management, featuring innovative methods to remain competitive in the global business arena. Focusing on critical analyses and real-world applications, this book is ideally designed for professionals, upper-level students, managers, and researchers actively involved in human resources settings.

Conventional wisdom argues that welfare state builders in the US and Sweden in the 1930s took their cues from labor and labor movements. Swenson makes the startling argument that pragmatic social reformers looked for support not only from below but also from above, taking into account capitalist interests and preferences. Juxtaposing two widely recognized extremes of welfare, the US and Sweden, Swenson shows that employer interests played a role in welfare state development in both countries.

From cartoons to boardrooms comes the statement, "It's not personal. It's just business."
Just a Job? Communication, Ethics, and Professional Life offers a provocative perspective on ethics at work. The book questions the notions that doing ethics at work has to be work, and that work is somehow a sphere where a different set of rules applies. This problematic line between work and life runs through the ways we commonly talk about ethics, from our personal relationships to the domains of work, including the organization, the profession, and the market. Talk about ethics is far more than "just talk," and this book shows how and why it matters.
Drawing from the fields of communication and rhetoric, the authors show how the very framing of ethics--even before we approach specific decisions--limits the potential roles of ethics in our work lives and the pursuit of happiness, and treats it as something that is meaningful only at special moments such as when faced with dilemmas, or as the last chapter in a business book. Separating ethics from life, we put it beyond our daily reach.
The authors argue against ethical myopia limited to spectacular scandals or comprehensive professional codes. Instead, they propose a master reframe of ethics based on a new take on virtue ethics, including Aristotle's practical ideal of eudaimonia or flourishing, which tells new stories about the ordinary as well as extraordinary aspects of professional integrity and success. By reframing ethics as not special, they elevate it to its rightful position in work and personal life.
Generously illustrated with examples and ideas from scholarly as well as popular sources, this book asks us to reconsider the meaning of and path toward the "good life."

In a time of changing technology and cultural shifts, it is difficult to measure some aspects of the workforce. Education and the American Workforce brings together a comprehensive collection of employment and education information from federal statistical agencies. The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Together, these agencies produce a wealth of information about the American workforce. This book includes information about the jobs that people hold, the occupations that they pursue, the industries where they work, and the education levels that people have attained. In addition to tables, each section also includes relevant figures and highlights of notable data. Some examples of interesting data found inside Education and the American Workforce include: *With no formal educational requirement and a median salary of $22,680, 4.5 million people are employed as retail salespersons, the most of any single occupation. Cashiers and food preparation/serving workers account for another 3.5 million each. There are 2.9 million registered nurses, the most numerous of occupations that require a bachelor's degree. *The biggest numeric decline is expected for Postal Service mail carriers, dropping by about 78,000 in ten years. When combined with other Postal Service occupations-such as clerks, sorters, postmasters, and others-a decline of 140,000 jobs is expected for the Postal Service. *Among the 75 largest counties, Bronx County, NY had the highest number of residents age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma at 29.4 percent while Montgomery County, PA had the lowest percentage at 6.2 percent. *Meanwhile, New York County, NY and Fairfax County, VA had the highest percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher at 59.9 percent followed by Montgomery County, MD at 57.9 percent among the 75 largest counties. Nationally, between 2011 and 2015, 29.8 percent of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher.

This book presents a selection of contributions on the timely topic of structural reforms in Western economies, written by experts from central banks, the International Monetary Fund, and leading universities. It includes latest research on the impacts of structural reforms on the market economy, especially on the labor market, and investigates the results of collective bargaining in theory and practice. The book also comprises case studies of structural reforms. A literature survey on the topic serves as a valuable source for further research. The book is written by and targeted at both academics and policy makers.

Regulatory reform in the late 1970s and early 1980s vastly transformed the labor market for transportation workers. Most research in this area focuses on the effect of deregulation on the earnings of nonmanagement company workers in airline, trucking and rail. Deregulation of transportation industries, though, has had a broader effect on workers. For instance, deregulation also influences workers hours worked per week, working conditions, worker safety, and a host of other labor issues. Deregulation might also influence the earnings of managers and self-employed workers in transportation industries. Examining these issues is valuable because such analysis provides a more complete assessment of labor market changes following the shift to a more market oriented business environment.

"Transportation Labor Issues and Regulatory Reform" adds to the debate on deregulation s influence on transportation labor markets by presenting empirical evidence on an array of labor market outcomes in transportation industries. Contributions to this volume are categorized by their analysis on worker safety, working conditions and employment opportunities, and by their analysis on managerial and self-employed earnings"

With a down-to-earth and practical approach that is both refreshing and inspiring, this revised edition of The South African labour market contains an abundance of information about labour markets in general, as well as the South African labour market in particular. It successfully fills a serious void in comprehensive, objective literature on this topic. The labour market and labour policies are in constant flux, with the result that fairly substantial changes have been made to ensure that this revised edition is positioned squarely in the middle of labour debates currently raging in South Africa. A chapter is specially dedicated to collective bargaining and the impact of unions on the labour market. It also covers strike action in South Africa and looks at the controversy surrounding bargaining councils. Labour market flexibility has become an important public focal point with the ANC publishing some important position papers on the matter and notable international organisations also referring to it in the context of South Africa's labour markets. This is part of the broader debate on ways to increase productivity. Formal employment is said to have increased substantially since the advent of democracy. The book considers the evidence of this and comes to some disturbing conclusions about the sensitivity of employment to economic growth. The book deals extensively with the impact of globalisation on the labour market and how other countries have managed the challenges of globalisation. Other topics include affirmative action in South Africa compared to Malaysia, and whether consensus-seeking institutions such as Nedlac still have a role to play. The book is generally accessible, but without sacrificing the firm academic foundation required to understand the operation of labour markets. All in all, this book is a mine of information, set out in a user-friendly manner, so that even the uninitiated will be able to understand the issues at hand. The content provides the reader with more than sufficient material for intelligent participation in debates and decisions regarding the labour market. Contents include the following: Unique characteristics of the labour market; The impact of HIV and Aids; Employment in the formal and informal sectors; Wages and the cost of labour; Addressing the challenges of globalisation; Unemployment in South Africa; Human capital and the demand for skilled workers; Inequalities and discrimination.

The in-depth analyses presented in this book have a dual focus: (1) Social mechanisms through which the gender wage gap, gender inequality in the attainment of managerial positions, and gender segregation of occupations are generated in Japan; and (2) Assessments of the effects of firms' gender-egalitarian personnel policies and work-life balance promotion policies on the gender wage gap and the firms' productivity. In addition, this work reviews and discusses various economic and sociological theories of gender inequality and gender discrimination and considers their consistencies and inconsistencies with the results of the analysis of Japanese data. Furthermore, the book critically reviews and discusses the historical development of the Japanese employment system by juxtaposing rational and cultural explanations. This book is an English translation by the author of a book he first published in Japanese in 2017. The original Japanese-language edition received two major book awards in Japan. One was The Nikkei Economic Book Culture Award, which is given every year by the Nikkei Newspaper Company and the Japan Economic Research Center to a few best books on economy and society. The other was The Showa University's Women's Culture Research Award, which is bestowed annually on a single book of research that promotes gender equality. Kazuo Yamaguchi is the Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago.

In these two volumes, a group of distinguished economists debate the way in which evidence, in particular econometric evidence, can and should be used to relate macroeconomic theories to the real world. Topics covered include the business cycle, monetary policy, economic growth, the impact of new econometric techniques, the IS-LM model, the labour market, new Keynesian macroeconomics, and the use of macroeconomics in official documents.

The transformation of women's lives over the past century is among the most significant and far-reaching of social and economic phenomena, affecting not only women but also their partners, children, and indeed nearly every person on the planet. In developed and developing countries alike, women are acquiring more education, marrying later, having fewer children, and spending a far greater amount of their adult lives in the labor force. Yet, because women remain the primary caregivers of children, issues such as work-life balance and the glass ceiling have given rise to critical policy discussions in the developed world. In developing countries, many women lack access to reproductive technology and are often relegated to jobs in the informal sector, where pay is variable and job security is weak. Considerable occupational segregation and stubborn gender pay gaps persist around the world. The Oxford Handbook of Women and the Economy is the first comprehensive collection of scholarly essays to address these issues using the powerful framework of economics. Each chapter, written by an acknowledged expert or team of experts, reviews the key trends, surveys the relevant economic theory, and summarizes and critiques the empirical research literature. By providing a clear-eyed view of what we know, what we do not know, and what the critical unanswered questions are, this Handbook provides an invaluable and wide-ranging examination of the many changes that have occurred in women's economic lives.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, economists have invested great resources into using statistical evidence to relate macroeconomic theories to the real world, and many new econometric techniques have been employed. In these two volumes, a distinguished group of economic theorists, econometricians, and economic methodologists examine how evidence has been used and how it should be used to understand the real world. Volume 1 focuses on the contribution of econometric techniques to understanding the macroeconomic world. It covers the use of evidence to understand the business cycle, the operation of monetary policy, and economic growth. A further section offers assessments of the overall impact of recent econometric techniques such as cointegration and unit roots. Volume 2 focuses on the labour market and economic policy, with sections covering the IS-LM model, the labour market, new Keynesian macroeconomics, and the use of macroeconomics in official documents (in both the USA and the EU). These volumes will be valuable to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and practitioners for their clear presentation of opposing perspectives on macroeconomics and how evidence should be used. The chapters are complemented by discussion sections revealing the perspectives of other contributors on the methodological issues raised.

This book discusses the question of how a regional economy can develop under the influence of an ageing and declining population, and how regional development policies can help make labor markets more resilient and more inclusive. As the greatest impacts of demographic change and policy and fiscal challenges can be observed at the local level, examples from European, North American and Asian regions are combined to present a comprehensive, global range of strategic solutions from different policy contexts. The book shows how institutions, organizations and communities can enhance their pathways for sustainable development through the intelligent management of their demographic transition, and offers a synthesis of valuable lessons and strategies.