For a long time in-work poverty was not associated with European welfare states. Recently, the topic has gained relevance as welfare state retrenchment and international competition in globalized economies has put increasing pressures on individuals and families. This book provides explanations as to why in-work poverty is high in certain countries and low in others. Much of the present concern about the working poor has to do with recent changes in labour market policies in Europe. However, this book is not primarily about low pay. Instead, it questions whether gainful employment is sufficient to earn a living - both for oneself and for one's family members. There are, however, great differences between European countries. This book argues that the incidence and structure of the working poor cannot be understood without a thorough understanding of each country's institutional context. This includes the system of wage-setting, the level of decommodification provided by the social security system and the structure of families and households. Combining cross-country studies with in-depth analyses from a national perspective, the book reveals that in-work poverty in Europe is a diverse, multi-faceted phenomenon occurring in equally diverse institutional, economic and socio-demographic settings. With its rich detail and conclusions, this genuinely comparative study will be of interest to academics and researchers of labour and welfare economics, social policy and European studies as well as to policy advisers.

This volume broadens the scope of 'comparative capitalism' within the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) tradition. It endorses the employment of multiple perspectives, including critical political economy, institutionalist systems of capitalism, structuralist-dependency scholarship and world-systems theory. The contributors deal with the theory of economic patriotism in a conceptual framework, as well as case studies regarding rent-seeking behaviour, the patronage state in Hungary and Poland, the conflict between national regulation and the European legal framework and the perspective of wage relations in the European institutional framework. The book concludes with the legacy of developmentalism and dirigisme in a core-periphery relation, based on the French state and a range of non-European cases including Iran, Brazil and Egypt.

This book empirically investigates the changes in labor market structure accompanying the labor market reform in China by focusing on the labor market segmentation problems from the 1980s to 2013. The book also aims to examine the effect of labor policy reforms on individual, household and enterprise behavior, including the causes and consequences of labor market reform in China, particularly the influences of labor policy reforms on labor market performance. Offering valuable insights into the changing structure of the Chinese economy, this book will be of interest to scholars, activists, and economists.

This book analyzes the structural factors that underlie the persistent mass poverty and extreme inequality in South Asian countries. It highlights the fact that the supposed trade-off between output growth and job creation is a false dilemma. Growth can create jobs, and jobs can drive growth, mutually reinforcing one another. Increased employment and better jobs would mitigate the problems arising from a widening inequality gap. The book argues that policies focused on employment generation, mostly through industrialization, are the way forward in terms of providing livelihoods, sustaining growth and reducing inequality. The book is divided into two main parts. Part A explores cases in selected countries in South Asia in detail, primarily focusing on the opportunities and challenges of job creation in the manufacturing sector, as well as related issues, including constraints on manufacturing-sector growth in South Asia, exports and trade linkages, participation in value chains and the role of investment. In turn, Part B addresses a number of aspects that can promote a deeper understanding of strategies for industrialization and employment creation in the South Asian context, including regional cooperation, skill development, and industrial competitiveness. Gathering contributions from some of the region's top minds, this book is of interest to scholars, researchers, policymakers and industry analysts alike.

Published twice per year in conjunction with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Research in Labor Economics contains new cutting edge peer reviewed research applying economic theory and econometrics to policy related topics pertinent to worker well-being, often with an international focus. Like other high quality journals, one volume each year contains papers on a wide range of labor economics topics. Unlike other journals, the second volume is devoted to a topic related to IZA's areas of activity with a policy focus. Typical themes of each volume include labor supply, work effort, schooling, on-the-job training, earnings distribution, discrimination, migration, and the effects of government policies.

This book examines the work of Milton Friedman, which is amongst the most significant in modern economics and, equally, amongst the most contentious. Although Friedman became most famous for his views on money and monetary policy as well as his public writings, a large and important part of his work concerned other aspects of economics. All parts of Friedman's work are considered here, as is his account of his own life. By focussing on what Friedman wrote rather than what later authors have written about him, this volume seeks to analyse the character, qualities and development of the arguments he made. This text is important for anyone interested in this both celebrated and reviled figure in economics. James Forder clarifies messages in Friedman's writing that have otherwise so often been obscured by academic and public controversy.

Consumption, Jobs and the Environment argues that the present pattern of development, based on everlasting economic growth, is completely unsatisfactory from a welfare point of view. It threatens ecological catastrophe while perpetuating poverty. Roy Carr-Hill and John Lintott propose an alternative policy framework based explicitly on welfare and suggest where cuts in consumption, working hours and ecological risks might be made most usefully.

In the mid-1980s the world's industrialised economies entered their second decade of stagnant growth and mass unemployment paralleled only by the Great Slump. Neo-conservative policies, which replaced traditional Keynesian remedies, have been no more successful in halting the inexorable increase in unemployment: the stigma of failure to deal with unemployment has touched governments of all political extractions from Conservative to Liberal to Social-Democratic. New perspectives on the unemployment problem are needed and this book provides them.

This book examines the experiences of seasonal, migrant sugarcane workers in Brazil, analyzing the deep-seated inequalities pervasive in contemporary Brazil. Education, employment, income, health, and relative political power are forefront in this study of the living and working conditions of the transient population. Based on ten years of qualitative research dominated by in-depth interviews with migrant sugarcane workers, this project argues that the ills of the sugarcane industry are symptomatic of an overarching problem of unequal access to opportunities by all Brazilian citizens. The project is unique in its use of a single industry as an expression of the multifarious problems of socioeconomic, regional, and racial inequality. The author explores details of the labor migration experience with a central premise that the conditions are not a direct outcome of the industry, but rather a manifestation of fundamental inequalities rooted in Brazil's colonial history.

Through a collection of 13 chapters, Peggy Deamer examines the profession of architecture not as an abstraction, but as an assemblage of architectural workers. What forces prevent architects from empowering ourselves to be more relevant and better rewarded? How can these forces be set aside by new narratives, new organizations and new methods of production? How can we sit at the decision-making table to combat short-term real estate interests for longer-term social and ethical value? How can we pull architecture-its conceptualization, its pedagogy, and its enactment-into the 21st century without succumbing to its neoliberal paradigm? In addressing these controversial questions, Architecture and Labor brings contemporary discourses on creative labor to architecture, a discipline devoid of labor consciousness. This book addresses how, not just what, architects produce and focuses not on the past but on the present. It is sympathetic to the particularly intimate way that architects approach their design work while contextualizing that work historically, institutionally, economically, and ideologically. Architecture and Labor is sure to be a compelling read for pre-professional students, academics, and practitioners.

This book provides a critical overview of the myriad literatures on "work," viewed not only as a product of the marketplace but also as a social and political construct. Drawing on theoretical and empirical contributions from sociology, history, economics, and organizational studies, the book brings together perspectives that too often remain balkanized, using each to explore the nature of work today. Outlining the fundamental principles that unite social science thinking about work, Vallas offers an original discussion of the major theoretical perspectives that inform workplace analysis, including Marxist, interactionist, feminist, and institutionalist schools of thought. Chapters are devoted to the labor process, to workplace flexibility, to gender and racial inequalities at work, and to the link between globalization and the structure of work and authority today. Major topics include the relation between work and identity; the relation between workplace culture and managerial control; and the performance of emotional labor within service occupations. This concise book will be invaluable to students as it explores a range of insights to make sense of pressing issues that drive the social scientific study of work, such as the social closure processes that exclude women and minorities from the most highly valued jobs, the role of social networks in accounting for disparities in the distribution of job rewards, and the struggle for global regimes that might regulate work in an era when neo-liberalism has reigned supreme.

This book explores the restructuring of the labour market and the opportunities that have resulted from economic globalization. The historical, political, geographical, and social relationships that female workers have had within the production process and the politics of work are examined to provide an understanding of the positioning of women within the global production system and the international division of employment. Unheard Voices: Women, Work and Political Economy of Global Production aims to give the reader an understanding of new workplace arrangements and the changing gendered patterns of work. The book is relevant to those interested in labour economics, the political economy, and gender studies.

This book brings together scholars from the fields of politics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and economics, to explore pathways towards implementing a Basic Income in Australia. It is the first book of its kind to outline avenues for implementation of a basic income specifically for Australia and responds to a gap in the existing basic income literature and published titles to provide a distinct standpoint in the exploration of basic income within the Australian contemporary policy landscape. The first section of the book outlines some of the continuing substantive and philosophical issues regarding BI implementation. In the second section of the book, authors offer practical strategies and models for progressing BI in Australia.

Empowering the New Mobility Workforce: Educating, Training, and Inspiring Future Transportation Professionals enlists a multidisciplinary roster of subject matter specialists who identify the priorities and strategies for cultivating a skilled workforce for the rapidly changing transportation landscape. Transportation employers will need to hire 4.6 million workers-1.2 times the current transportation workforce-in the next decade. The book explores how leaders in education, industry and government can work together to create an ecosystem that facilitates learning and upskilling for emerging and incumbent transportation workers. Readers will learn how to conduct labor market analyses and develop competency models to adapt their workforce. This book will empower readers to establish ongoing communities of practice that cultivate sustainable career pathways that respond to ever-evolving socioeconomic trends and transformational technologies.

This volume combines approaches from three disciplines - economics, sociology, and demography - and empirically analyzes the key aspects of the labor market and social demography processes in post-Soviet transitional societies while focusing on the gender perspective. Here, readers will find empirical studies on such countries as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The volume contributes to the literature by addressing the lack of academic empirical research on gender difference issues in the labor markets of post-Soviet countries as well as gender inequalities in fertility preferences, gender disparities among the youth and elderly, the gender pay gap, gender differences in employment, and female voices. The book brings together researchers of different disciplines from a variety of countries, distinguishing this project as international and interdisciplinary. The authors use the quantitative survey micro-data approach as well as the qualitative methods of interview data analysis to provide a comprehensive and detailed overview of the economic and social developments in the region regarding gender differences. The volume consists of three parts tackling the following topics: 1) gender differences and demography (family formation and fertility, youth and elderly employment); 2) gender differences and labor market (gender wage gap, motherhood wage penalty, gender differences among freelancers, and women in STEM science); and 3) gender differences, well-being, and gender equality attitudes (women's voices, women's collective actions, gender equality attitudes, and spending patterns of housewives).

Since the 1970s early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing the USA, eight European countries, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the 'pull factor' of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the 'push factor' of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today's welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analysis and a balanced approach to studying both the pull and the push factors affecting early exit from work needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.

This volume contains 13 new and important never before published chapters covering aspects of the employer-employee relationship. The volume is focused at the academic audience, but is also geared to government and business policy makers worldwide. The chapters use data from the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle-East to answer a number of vital labor market questions. These include: Why has part-time work increased so dramatically in the 15 European Union countries? What changes in retirement behavior will be expected as countries change pension laws? Why do firms often use fixed-term instead of long-term employment contracts? How do employee work interruptions affect occupational choice? Why do both employers and employees often prefer additional fringe benefits to wage increases? Do academic certifications really signal higher worker quality? How is an individual's work ethic influenced by others in residential neighborhoods? And, why do risky jobs often pay lower wages when one might expect employees need better remuneration to take dangerous jobs?

This book contributes to the ongoing discussion around so-called precarious or venture work, as the proportion of those employed by start-ups and thinly-capitalized firms continues to grow. Filling a gap in literature, the author explores the relationship between venture co-workers and examines how they cope with economic uncertainty, moving away from the previous focus on entrepreneurs and investors. Presenting empirical data from several life science start-ups in Sweden, this book illustrates the impact of institutional and regulatory changes in the finance industry, and demonstrates how these effects can ultimately reshape the meaning of employment.

Productive employment opportunities constitute the primary ingredient of economic transformation and inclusive growth. This volume examines India's development experience in the sphere of labour, employment, structural change and institutional challenges in the recent past. The contributors have extended the boundaries of contemporary debate in a variety of ways by undertaking fairly detailed empirical analysis of selected aspects of growth and employment change in India. They uncover the recent patterns of change, between and within sectors over time that challenges popular beliefs and understanding of employment growth in India. Analysis of population ageing, gender discrimination, impact of labour regulation; institutional analysis; dynamics of judicial interpretation of laws protecting workers in the years of economic liberalisation among others have enriched the content. The volume contributes to our knowledge of India's labour market and sheds light on employment challenges in an economy undergoing rapid growth and economic transformation.

This book focuses on informal workers and margins and seeks to advance the discourse on the concepts of 'work', 'workers' and 'margins'. By largely focusing on informal, non-formal and non-industrial sector workers where unionism, collective bargaining, and labour laws have little influence, the book promotes approaches to understanding alternate worker politics and organising practices. As such, it presents an alternative to conventional approaches to understanding workers in management and organisation studies. The book draws attention to the mechanisms of erasure implicit in disciplinary and governmental practices that allow the worker to remain invisible. By making the worker visible, it seeks to go beyond economistic and psychological approaches to work(ing) to understand the worker as a human being, with all the complexity, vulnerability and agency that status implies. Further, it seeks to go beyond worker victimhood to gather narratives of workers' worlds and the possibility of alternate worlds. The contributing authors bring together diverse perspectives from fields including industrial relations, environment, displacement, collective action, livelihoods, rural development, MSMEs, organisational behaviour and entrepreneurship to present a textured and multidimensional view of workers and their worlds.

The role of human capital has diversified considerably in the last 100 years. Today, the prevailing perception seeks a sustainable, integrated development which is based on the triptych of environment, economy, and society. In this mode of development, human capital has a positive effect on the economy, on social cohesion and optimal governance, as well as on the ecological footprint. This book studies the critical role of human capital in the Greek economy and its production structure. In doing so, this book analyzes the Greek labor market, employment, and structural changes, among other facets of this vibrant economy.

This book challenges the conventional wisdom that greater schooling and skill improvement leads to higher wages, that income inequality falls with wider access to schooling, and that the Information Technology revolution will re-ignite worker pay. Indeed, the econometric results provide no evidence that the growth of skills or educational attainment has any statistically significant relation to earnings growth or that greater equality in schooling has led to a decline in income inequality. Results also indicate that computer investment is negatively related to earnings gains and positively associated with changes in both income inequality and the dispersion of worker skills. The findings reports here have direct relevance to ongoing policy debates on educational reform in the U.S.

This book is about labor income share, which measures the share of national income paid in wages. The global share of income going towards labor is declining, which suggests a more unequal distribution of income. This has sparked debates about fair distribution of personal incomes among academics and policymakers alike. This book joins the discussion by bringing together recent developments in theoretical and empirical research on labor income share and novel insights on the measurement of the labor income share. The aim of this book is to help design policies to reduce inequality and provide useful knowledge to academics, policymakers from government agencies, policy aides in research institutions and think tanks, and broader audiences from public and private organizations.

In the field of 'climate change', no terrain goes uncontested. The terminological tug of war between activists and corporations, scientists and governments, has seen radical notions of 'sustainability' emptied of urgency and subordinated to the interests of capital. 'Just Transition' is the latest such battleground, and the conceptual keystone of the post-COP21 climate policy world. But what does it really mean? Just Transition emerged as a framework developed within the trade union movement to encompass a range of social interventions needed to secure workers' and frontline communities' jobs and livelihoods as economies shift to sustainable production. Just Transitions draws on a range of perspectives from the global North and South to interrogate the overlaps, synergies and tensions between various understandings of the Just Transition approach. As the concept is entering the mainstream, has it lost its radical edge, and if so, can it be recovered? Written by academics and activists from around the globe, this unique edited collection is the first book entirely devoted to Just Transition.