Research on labour market, labour relations, quality of work, human re- sources management, organisation ~f work and related topics has always been an important element in the activities of SISWO. The Netherlands' Universities Institute for Coordination of Research in Social Sciences (SISWO), is a national agency that initiates and supports, both scientifically and organisationally, research endeavours on a great variety of themes. This is done by organising discussion groups, congresses and conferences, expert meetings, newsletters and publications. For the field oflabour and organisation, WESW A, theN etherlands' Uni- versities Working Committee on Social Science Research of Labour and Organisation, is the inter-university network that, in close cooperation with SISWO, unites experts from Dutch universities. WESWA and SISWO are convinced that an overview of the Dutch state of the art, in English, will be welcomed by an international audience. This state of the art work on research into labour and organisation in The Netherlands was edited by Gerard Evers, Bert van Hees and Joop Schippers. I do hope that this book will receive the attention both within and outside our country that it deserves.

Coffee from East Africa, wine from California, chocolate from the Ivory Coast - all those every day products are based on labour, often produced under appalling conditions, but always involving the combination of various work processes we are often not aware of. What is the day-to-day reality for workers in various parts of the world, and how was it in the past? How do they work today, and how did they work in the past? These and many other questions comprise the field of the global history of work - a young discipline that is introduced with this handbook. In 8 thematic chapters, this book discusses these aspects of work in a global and long term perspective, paying attention to several kinds of work. Convict labour, slave and wage labour, labour migration, and workers of the textile industry, but also workers' organisation, strikes, and motivations for work are part of this first handbook of global labour history, written by the most renowned scholars of the profession.

The purpose of this book is to analyse the remaining obstacles to achieving gender equality. The first chapters present different aspects of the gender earnings gap. Different countries are studied and special emphasis is laid on particular sectors and occupations. The rest of the book deals with the postponement of first birth by educated women, the non-cooperative behaviour in time use, gender differences in job and worker mobility, transitions between employment status, discriminations contained in tax systems and poverty rate of single parent households.

This important book collects together Peter Nijkamp's work on spatial-economic markets, particularly housing and labour markets, and the increasing impact of information technology on mobility and the location of firms, residents and job seekers.The first part deals with applied modelling and theoretical advances in housing market dynamics and research. The papers address issues such as the implications of household dynamics for relocation decisions, migration movements in Europe, and the driving forces for migration decisions of ethnic groups. The second part focuses on the spatial labour market, dealing with recruitment channel and search channel choices by job seekers and firms, vacancy durations and the opportunities offered by ethnic entrepreneurship for improving the chances of ethnic groups. The third part comprises an analysis of spatial mobility flows and interaction patterns and the final part emphasises the scope and effect of information technology in transport. This includes the effect of real-time information on the behaviour of car drivers, the effect of telematics devices on public transport users, the importance of telematics for the freight transport sector and the adoption mechanisms of ICT users and their related policy implications. This collection will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in the housing and labour markets and the impact on both of developments in IT and transport.

Globalization, the economic crisis and related policies of austerity have led to a growth in extreme exploitation at work, with migrants particularly vulnerable. This book explores the lives of the growing numbers of severely exploited labourers in the world today, questioning how we can respond to such globalized patterns of extreme inequality.

This book investigates the extent of gender inequality in the division of labor in the modern household. Through comparisons of the time allocations of single couple families without children, couple families with children and lone parents, a comprehensive account of the evolution of gender inequality over a typical lifecourse is presented.

This work carries seven papers that analyze the effect of government and corporate actions on individuals' labor market behavior and seven others from a November 1996 conference at Cornell University discuss new empirical research on employer training.

This book reviews the long history of U.S. shipping policy, and explains the present challenges (including the increasing use of open register arrangements). U.S. labor problems, tort and liability risks, environmental and safety regulations, and coastal and harbor security issues receive heavy emphasis. Options for reviving U.S. shipbuilding are analayzed, along with balance of payments implications, and sealift and national security requirements. The book offers a detailed program for American maritime renewal. It is intended for maritime, national security, international trade, and foreign policy audiences. Extensive data and tables allow for a comprehensive assessment of the U.S. merchant marine and the global shipping industry, with substantial historical background.

Nearly two thirds of world shipping is done under flags of convenience. The significant over-tonnaging, subsidies and/or restrictions, and shipping friendly policies present in many countries create strong competitive pressures. Unfortunately, the U.S. and British merchant marines are in serious decline. But the Japanese, Chinese, Greeks, and Scandinavians are thriving at sea. And many European Union, Asian, and former Eastern bloc nations are likely to remain determined competitors.

U.S. maritime policies need overhaul and a more realistic outlook. This book reviews the long history of U.S. shipping policy, and explains the present challenges (including the increasing use of open register arrangements). U.S. labor problems, tort and liability risks, environmental and safety regulations, and coastal and harbor security issues receive heavy emphasis. Options for reviving U.S. shipbuilding are analayzed, along with balance of payments implications, and sealift and national security requirements. The book offers a detailed program for American maritime renewal. It is intended for maritime, national security, international trade, and foreign policy audiences. Extensive data and tables allow for a comprehensive assessment of the U.S. merchant marine and the global shipping industry, with substantial historical background.

This book analyzes in what way activation policies impact on given patterns of social citizenship that predominate in national contexts. It argues that the liberal paradigm of activation introduced into labour market policies in all Western European states challenges the specific patterns of social citizenship in each country.

Why in 2015 are there still large gender differences in economic success? This volume consists of a set of state of the art research articles to answer this question. Focus areas include educational attainment, financial risk management, bargaining power, social mobility, and intergenerational transfers in the US and abroad.

In the Netherlands, CPB often adopts the MIMIC model to explore the structural labour market implications of changes in the tax and social-insurance system. This applied general-equilibrium model combines microeconomic theory with a rich institutional detail and a firm empirical basis. This book describes the structure of MIMIC and discusses a large number of policy measures that have been proposed during the last five years. Moreover, it elaborates on proposals that are currently in discussion, such as the flat tax. To ease the understanding of the model, we also present a core version with only a few equations.

This book offers a labour perspective on wage-setting institutions, collective bargaining and economic development. Sixteen country chapters, eight on Asia and eight on Europe, focus in particular on the role and effectiveness of minimum wages in the context of national trends in income inequality, economic development, and social security.

According to Chermesh, the Israeli industrial relations system has developed as a state within a state, having, by the mid-1980s, gained a high level of autonomy and detachment from political and economic constraints. At the heart of the system is the Histadrut, the General Federation of Labor, which Chermesh asserts must be radically reshaped in order to bring about political and economic control of the system. By tracing the evolution of the system from the mid-1960s, Chermesh demonstrates the limits of economic and legal perspectives as analytical tools in the field of collective industrial relations. Instead he stresses the importance of the institutional setting for planning and implementing sound industrial relations policy. By constructing an analytical laboratory for industrial relations research. Chermesh's study merits the attention of students and scholars involved in comparative industrial relations and the sociology of organizations as well as those studying contemporary Israeli society and economic life.

Family Policy Paradoxes examines the political regulation of the family in Sweden, between 1930 and today. The book draws attention to the political attempts to create a 'modern family,' and the aspiration to regulate the family and install gender equality. It looks at historic and current developments in gender equality and family policy, and it sheds light on the ongoing policy processes within Europe and how these can be understood in the light of a particular political experience. Based on original research, Family Policy Paradoxes builds on rich and varied sources, including interviews with key actors and policy documents. It will contribute to the literature of gender, family, and welfare policies.

Uncovering how cash-in-hand economies are composed of not only the underground sector (work akin to formal employment conducted for profit-motivated purposes), but also a hidden economy of favors more akin to mutual aid, this book displays the need to transcend conventional market-oriented readings of cash-in-hand work and radically rethink whether seeking its eradication through tougher regulations is always appropriate. It argues for a variegated policy approach that recognizes these two distinct forms of cash-in-hand work and that tailors policy accordingly.

The salient features of the Japanese labour market are explained in this volume, the key idea being integrated segmentation. Emphasis is on segmentation: on the demand side, within the educational system and, on the supply side, monitoring costs which underlie labour contracts. Using long-run official government statistical evidence, it is argued that what is peculiar to Japan is the integration of segmented labour markets. By virtue of segmentation the Japanese labour market is deeply competitive. By virtue of integration it is highly co-operative.

As women are entering the workforce in record numbers, there is an urgent need to address the specific ethical problems that working women face. Providing a conceptual framework from which practical issues can be addressed, the authors focus on sexual harassment, comparable worth, leadership, advertising, and working-class women. Theoretical concepts, applied cases, personal narratives, statistical data and charts are all included in this wide ranging treatment of ethics and working women. This is not merely a summary of others' work; it is a book that will frame debates on gender, ethics, business, and economics and serve as an exemplar for the critical treatment of basic human concerns.

This book explores the relationship between the location of the firm, the location of its markets and suppliers, and the inventory holding behaviour of the firm. Space costs and time costs are manifested in inventory costs. The examination of these inventory costs allows new insights into the reasons for observed industrial location behaviour. In particular, we see that transport costs are only a small part of total distance costs, and that the values of the goods being shipped and the value-added by the firm, are crucial location determinants. This approach is then extended to an analysis of Just-In-Time (JIT) production.

This book examines the facts concerning child labor in Latin America--how it varies over time; across countries; and in comparison to other areas of the world. The rich evidence presented in the book supports the view that the root causes of child labor can be identified, that child labor has identifiable costs that can last across generations, and that there are policy alternatives that can succeed in its eradication. This book aims to improve the understanding of root causes and consequences of persistent child labor and to contribute to the policy debate with the goal of enhancing the current and future welfare of all children in Latin America.

The main purpose of this book is to enhance the understanding of differences in productivity performance between countries and sectors and to improve our insight in the drivers of productivity levels and its growth. Due to demographics the speed-up of productivity growth will be of increasing importance to secure GDP growth in the future, since the other source of GDP growth (employment growth) will be limited in most Western Countries. A better insight in the patterns and drivers of productivity performance is therefore not simply a matter of academic interest, however valuable that in itself can be. Improving our knowledge of the drivers of productivity will enable us to determine which are the 'switches' policy makers have to use. The book takes the Netherlands as a case, but is hardly a book on productivity in the Low Countries alone. The different contributors focus on the drivers of productivity that prevail in every modern economy, using the Netherlands' experience as an example, which makes this book relevant for the analysis of productivity in other countries. Moreover, the book contains international comparisons between EU and OECD countries, in particular with regard to productivity performance. The book focuses on productivity in the business sector, leaving public sector productivity aside.

A detailed exploration of the influence and utility of Thomas Malthus' model of population growth and economic changes in Europe since the nineteenth century. This important contribution to current discussions on theories of economic growth includes discussion of issues ranging from mortality and fertility to natural resources and the poverty trap.

This book considers patterns of women's employment in the period 1700-1850. Focusing on the county of Essex, material on the worsted industry, agriculture, fashion trades, service, prostitution, and marriage and family life will shed light on contemporary debates in history such as the sexual division of labour, controversy over continuity or change in women's employment, the importance of ideas of 'separate spheres' and 'domestic ideology', and the overall effects of capitalism on women's employment.

Culture is not new to the study of migration. It has lurked beneath the surface for some time, occasionally protruding openly into the discussion, usually under some pseudonym. The authors of the papers in this volume bring culture into the open. They are concerned with how culture manifests itself in the migration process for three groups of actors: the migrants, those remaining in the sending areas, and people already living in the recipient locations. The topics vary widely. What unites the authors is an understanding that though actors behave differently, within a group there are economically important shared beliefs (customs, values, attitudes, etc.), which we commonly referred to as culture. Culture plays a central role in our understanding of migration as an economic phenomenon. While the papers in this volume occasionally touch on this diversity and the conflicts it engenders, this is not the focus of the volume. Here the emphasis is on the distinctions in culture between migrants, the families they left behind, and the local population in the migration destination. The new interactions directly affect all three groups. Assimilation is one result; separation is also a possibility. Location choice, workplace interaction, enclave size, the opportunity for the migrant obtaining credit in their new country, the local population's reaction to migrants, the political culture of the migrants and local population, links to the country-of-origin, and the economic state of the host country, all contribute to the classic conflict between assimilation and separation. This volume will consider different aspects of the process of assimilation considering the affect on the migrants themselves, on the local population, on the families left at the home country and others.