Traces labor migration of women from Eastern Caribbean to oil-producing countries such as Venezuela, Trinidad, Curaðcao, and especially Aruba. Discusses women's participation in the labor force, gender relations, domestic service, the social and economic position of the migrants, and motherhood. Argues that US investments are an important factor in the migration of Caribbean women"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

Allison Zippay charts the decline of displaced blue-collar workers, part of the fallout of the past decade's dramatic economic shift from manufacturing to an expanded, service-based economy. She challenges the widely held assumption that these workers have been absorbed into the post-industrial economy and raises questions regarding the real nature of their occupational transition. Actually a case study of the Shenango Valley in western Pennsylvania, where an estimated 6,600 jobs were lost due to plant closings, From Middle Income to Poor is unique in its coverage of the vital issue of economic dislocation. Zeroing in on long-term unemployment and income loss, Zippay finds that many of the displaced workers remain unemployed or underemployed and have slipped in status from middle-income to poor. The volume uses data gathered from interviews to explore how persons with a history of steady blue-collar employment have coped with economic dislocation and downward lifestyle shifts, and in the process presents a path-breaking community portrait of industrial displacement. Early chapters focus on blue-collar workers in the 1980s and the economic and social dimensions of the manufacturing decline. They describe the Shenango Valley community setting, mill work, mill workers, and how the lifestyles of the local residents have been shaped by long-standing blue collar traditions. Later chapters investigate the changes in income and employment that prompted a downward slide and examine the processes of rebuilding. Chapter Seven cites incidences of depression and other emotional distress as well as changes in perception of self and community. The final chapter discusses the implications of thefindings and recommends actions that could improve the displaced workers' social and economic well-being. Sociologists, policy analysts, social workers, and those in the fields of labor relations, social welfare, and social economics will find that this intense scrutiny of the Shenango Valley has far-reaching implications for the national economy in the 1990s and beyond.

How can we be happier, healthier and more satisfied in life? This edited collection examines various dimensions of wellbeing among older people, including its measurement; social, environmental and economic determinants; and how research can be translated into policy to improve quality of life for older people. With an increasingly ageing population across countries and an increasing population of older adults, there is growing interest in improving older people's ability to live healthily and happily. With a focus on retirement and aged care, this book is important reading for those interested in Welfare Economics, Health Economics and Development.

This book explores the politics behind "de-liberalization", defined as policy reforms that constrain markets and their underlying mechanisms. By offering a comparative study on the governmental reform strategies and policy choices of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, it demonstrates that de-liberalization processes are a common reform option for governments. Utilizing a novel dataset on liberalization covering policy reform trajectories in 38 industrialized countries between 1973 and 2013, it shows that governments often draw on strategies of de-liberalization in the fields of social, welfare and labor market policy, where they can be used as compensation for the electorate in the context of liberalizing reforms. As such, the book makes an important contribution to the field of political economy by capturing the turning of the tide in scholarly and policy attention, away from liberalization and towards a re-embedding and re-regulation of economic activity.

Wages are the main determinant of living standards for the vast majority of workers and families around the world. This manual describes a new methodology to measure what constitutes a decent but basic standard of living and how much workers need to earn to afford this, making it possible for researchers to estimate comparable living wages around the world and determine gaps between living wages and prevailing wages. The new, practical methodology in this manual draws on 10 years of research and experience to clearly explain each step in the estimation process, based on standards for a low cost nutritious diet, healthy housing, and all other needs including decent health care and children's education. It stresses transparency and the need for time and place specific living wage estimates, and is replete with examples from country studies that have put it to the test. The authors describe how living wages can be estimated in locations and countries where secondary data are limited and make new, practical recommendations on how to value in kind benefits as partial payment of a living wage. An essential tool for Researchers and NGOs interested in wages, poverty, living standards, and corporate social responsibility issues, this manual will also serve company professionals responsible for corporate social responsibility and human resources. It is also an excellent tool for Bank governments and unions, and international organizations such as the United Nations, UNDP, ILO and World Bank involved in setting minimum wages, poverty alleviation programs and trade policies.

This book enables readers to better understand, explain, and predict the future of the nation's overall economic health through its examination of the black working class-especially the experiences of black women and black working-class residents outside of urban areas. How have the experiences of black working-class women and men residing in urban, suburban, and rural settings impacted U.S. labor relations and the broader American society? This book asserts that a comprehensive and critical examination of the black working class can be used to forecast whether economic troubles are on the horizon. It documents how the increasing incidence of attacks on unions, the dwindling availability of working-class jobs, and the clamoring by the working class for a minimum wage hike is proof that the atmospheric pressure in America is rising, and that efforts to prepare for the approaching financial storm require attention to the individuals and households who are often overlooked: the black working class. Presenting information of great importance to sociologists, political scientists, and economists, the authors of this work explore the impact of the recent Great Recession on working-class African Americans and argue that the intersections of race and class for this particular group uncover the state of equity and justice in America. This book will also be of interest to public policymakers as well as students in graduate-level courses in the areas of African American studies, American society and labor, labor relations, labor and the Civil Rights Movement, and studies on race, class, and gender. Contributes new information and fresh perspectives on the ongoing debate regarding the significance of race versus class Suggests a number of lessons all Americans can learn from the black working class Provides a insightful critique of the first black American president's record on race and addressing socioeconomic class differences Supplies an unprecedented examination that simultaneously examines the diversity of the black working class as well as its historical impact on shaping and foreshadowing the U.S. economy over many generations

Personnel economics, the use of economics for studying human resource issues, is becoming a standard course in business and economics departments around the world. Indeed, after being successfully introduced in North American business schools, the teaching of personnel economics is now growing in Europe and in the rest of the world. Yet, most of the traditional analysis of personnel economics assumes a perfectly competitive labour market, a situation in which wages are fully flexible and dismissals can take place at no cost. Such a setting is inappropriate for most European markets, where wage rigidity and wage compression are widespread phenomena, and where employment protection legislation is very stringent. Personnel Economics in Imperfect Labour Markets aims to describe key personnel issues when firms and human resource managers act in highly regulated labour markets. Written to be accessible to students, the book provides original answers to questions which have previously been left to specialized academic journals. Should hiring take place under temporary or permanent contracts? How can we provide compensation related incentives when minimum wages are binding? How de we solve the employment/hours trade-off? These questions and more are discussed within the text.

The aging and migration megatrends and their impact on spatial - regional and local - labor market performance is the core theme of this book, and thus together define its scope and focus. The contributions provide an overview of key aging and migration issues in various countries together with analyses of their varied impacts on regional labor markets. Systematic database research and related empirical analyses are used to map out the complex and dynamic nature of these trends, while cutting-edge economic and modeling techniques are used to analyze them. In closing, the book critically reviews and assesses selected policy measures designed to cope with the effects of aging and migration on regional labor markets.

The issues discussed in this book are the building blocks needed for an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that will allow for value creation and reporting by the most important assets organizations have, its human capital.

This book provides a systemic and detailed monographic study of Chinese outbound migration. It not only breaks down the basic trends of this migration with respect to destinations and the like, but also analyzes its unique features, which include the largely middle- and upper-class makeup of emigrants and their investment activities overseas, particularly when it comes to buying property. The Chinese are the largest foreign buyers of real estate in the US, Canada and Australia. By explaining this and other special aspects of Chinese emigration and their impact on China and receiving countries, this book provides a fresh and interesting look at this important phenomenon.

This Handbook incorporates a variety of disciplines and approaches in order to provide a comprehensive and authoritative examination of the issues that result from increasing age diversity at work. Despite interest in this area exploding over the past few years amongst academics, practitioners and policy makers, the analysis of age diversity has remained primarily within disciplinary 'silos' such as Psychology or Sociology with a focus on ageing or generational differences, rather than a combination of approaches to understanding age diversity. Unique in its coverage of multiple perspectives, it considers not only generational and ageing perspectives to age diversity, but also highlights the importance of context in driving both the impact and response to this issue. The Palgrave Handbook of Age Diversity and Work includes contributions from leading scholars in age and generational diversity from across the world, discussing cutting-edge research findings about the nature and impact of age diversity and presenting approaches to managing this phenomenon.

In the digital age tasks are increasingly modularised and consumers are increasingly becoming prosumers. Replacing digital labour and prosumption within an American context and the wider political economy, this volume presents a critical account of the forces which shape contemporary subjects, networks, and labour practices.

This book provides a unique insight into negotiations around language investment for employability in the context of public employment services. Drawing on extensive ethnographical research carried out in Regional Employment Offices in Switzerland, the authors follow the stories of various job seekers. In doing so, they challenge the currently dominant assumption that investment in language competences leads to better employability. Arguing for a political economic perspective on these issues, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the connections between language and social inequality, as well as students and scholars of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics.

The management of buyer-supplier relations has come to be regarded as a key to achieving manufacturing competitiveness, particularly in sectors facing global competition based on both price and quality. This book is a theoretical and empirical exploration of the link between the type of buyer-supplier relations and corporate performance. Dr Sako examines how British and Japanese companies in the electronics industry manage their relationships with buyers and suppliers, the empirical study comprising a three-way comparison of a Japanese customer company, a British customer company, and a Japanese company in Britain, and an analysis of 36 supplier companies in Britain and Japan. Variations of the companies' business practices are assessed in terms of technology, the nature of market competition, the national legal framework, financial structures, employment systems, and the mode of entrepreneurship. The author identifies two distinct approaches in the two countries - the arm's-length contractual relation (ACR) in Britain, and the obligational contractual relation (OCR) in Japan - and argues that the trust and interdependence present in the latter can be a powerful springboard from which to achieve corporate success.

The Handbook brings together a systematic review of the research topics, empirical findings, and methods that comprise modern labor economics. It serves as an introduction to what has been done in this field, while at the same time indicating possible future trends which will be important in both spheres of public and private decision-making.
Part I is concerned with the classic topics of labor supply and demand, the size and nature of the elasticities between the two, and their impact on the wage structure. This analysis touches on two fundamental questions: what are the sources of income inequality, and what are the disincentive effects of attempts to produce a more equal income distribution ?
The papers in Part II proceed from the common observation that the dissimilarity in worker skills and employer demands often tempers the outcomes that would be expected in frictionless labor markets. And the last section of the Handbook deals explicitly with the role of institutional structures (e.g. trade unions) that now form an important part of modern labor economics.
For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http: //www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes

The Handbook brings together a systematic review of the research topics, empirical findings, and methods that comprise modern labor economics. It serves as an introduction to what has been done in this field, while at the same time indicating possible future trends which will be important in both spheres of public and private decision-making.
Part 1 is concerned with the classic topics of labor supply and demand, the size and nature of the elasticities between the two, and their impact on the wage structure. This analysis touches on two fundamental questions: what are the sources of income inequality, and what are the disincentive effects of attempts to produce a more equal income distribution?
The papers in Part II proceed from the common observation that the dissimilarity in worker skills and employer demands often tempers the outcomes that would be expected in frictionless labor markets. And the last
section of the Handbook deals explicitly with the role of institutional structures (e.g. trade unions) that now form an important part of modern labor economics.

In development literature Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is traditionally considered to be instrumental for the economic growth of all countries, particularly the developing ones. It acts as a panacea for breaking out of the vicious circle of low savings/low income and facilitates the import of capital goods and advanced technical knowhow. This book delves into the complex interaction of FDI with diverse factors. While FDI affects the efficiency of domestic producers through technological diffusion and spill-over effects, it also impinges on the labor market, affecting unemployment levels, human capital formation, wages (and wage inequality) and poverty; furthermore, it has important implications for socio-economic issues such as child labor, agricultural disputes over Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and environmental pollution. The empirical evidence with regard to most of the effects of FDI is highly mixed and reflects the fact that there are a number of mechanisms involved that interact with each other to produce opposing results. The book highlights the theoretical underpinnings behind the inherent contradictions and shows that the final outcome depends on a number of country-specific factors such as the nature of non-traded goods, factor endowments, technological and institutional factors. Thus, though not exhaustive, the book integrates FDI within most of the existing economic systems in order to define its much-debated role in developing economies. A theoretical analysis of the different facets of FDI as proposed in the book is thus indispensable, especially for the formulation of appropriate policies for foreign capital.

Is the cancer patient an object of job discrimination? Are the discriminatory claims of AIDS patients and patients of other chronic diseases accurate? According to this book the question is a moot one for its occurrence is an inevitable consequence of our social system and the characteristics of the disease. Work and Illness starts with the premise that work is a principle determinant in the quality of one's life particularly in the presence of a chronic illness. This book forcefully concludes that the study of the impact of chronic diseases on the labor market is not only a legitimate economic study but a social imperative to action. Ivan Barofsky, who in his position at the National Cancer Institute has focused on the quality of life of the cancer patient for the last ten years, takes the first step in this process. He has compiled the best available text on what is becoming a major social concern.

The book, divided into two major sections, first provides an in-depth review of the available data on the work history of the cancer patient. The second section provides specific recommendations for future research and policy issues. In addition, the book discusses: work and insurance experiences of the cancer patient; the failure of the NCI sponsored Work-able Project; research agenda; policy objectives.

This book explores the ways in which neoliberal capitalism has reshaped the lives of working-class men around the world. It focuses on the effects of employment change and of new forms of governmentality on men's experiences of both public and private life. The book presents a range of international studies-from the US, UK, and Australia to Western and Northern Europe, Russia, and Nigeria-that move beyond discourses positing a 'masculinity crisis' or pathologizing working-class men. Instead, the authors look at the active ways men have dealt with forms of economic and symbolic marginalization and the barriers they have faced in doing so. While the focus of the volume is employment change, it covers a range of topics from consumption and leisure to education and family.

Join the latest debate on the issues surrounding employment compensation. In Compensation and Organizations, a number of leading I/O psychologists and researchers explore the tremendous impact that recent changes in market conditions have had on today's compensation practices and outcomes. They delve into the effects that compensation has on employee performance, satisfaction, and attraction and retention, and examine the roles of pay strategy, pay risk, and the changing employment contract on pay packages and pay outcomes. They also offer nine general principles for constructing effective incentive systems. It's a broad-ranging work that summarizes the most important trends and conclusions in this important field and highlights areas in need of further research.

Perspectives on Human Capital and Assets goes beyond the current literature by providing a platform for a broad scope of discussion regarding HC&A, and, more importantly, by encouraging a multidisciplinary fusion between diverse disciplines.

This book illustrates how global economic progress has reached its upper limit under the current economic paradigm, and how the next major revolution in global progress will rely on our ability to tap into the collective knowledge of the "everyday genius" to drive innovation, free market competition, artistic influence, and other advances that will allow humanity to overcome its greatest challenges. This volume proposes a grant-based program that will allow innovators to pursue their passions and benefit society as a whole. Such a program will reflect the end of the industrial age, when technology is satisfying many basic needs and creating space for individuals to pursue meaningful, fulfilling careers with the potential to improve our quality of life. Our current economic state mirrors the beginnings of the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, and Aspirational Revolution shows how the immediate future will redefine what it means to be human by revolutionizing the manner in which we acquire and utilize the resources necessary for our continued survival. This book is the catalyst by which this transition will occur, providing the models upon which new paradigms will be built - a brand new conception of fundamental economic theory.