The so-called 'Spanish miracle', beginning in the mid-1990s, eventually became a nightmare for the majority of the population, culminating in the present-day economic and political crisis. This book explores the main features of the Spanish political-economic model during both the growth and crisis periods. Analyzing the causes and consequences of the continuing economic crisis in Spain, this book delves into five analytical axes: the evolution of the growth model; the role of Spain in the international division of labor; the financial sector and its influence on the rest of the economy; changes in the labor market; and the distributional consequences of both the expansive phase and the later crisis. Furthermore, contributors examine the formation of a triangle of actors (the government sector, building sector, and financial capital) that shaped the Spanish growth model, together with the effects of Spain's membership in the Economic and Monetary Union. Also considering ecological problems, gender issues, and the immigration question, this book challenges the alleged recovery of living conditions during recent years, as well as the explanation of the crisis as the result of irrational behaviors or the greedy nature of certain actors. The Political Economy of Contemporary Spain provides a coherent explanation of the Spanish economic crisis based on a pluralistic approach, while proposing several measures that could contribute to a transformation of Spain's economic and social models.

Research in Labor Economics 44 takes another in-depth and focussed look at Inequality. This time however it is tied in with well-being of the workforce. Research in Labor Economics volume 44 contains new and innovative research on the causes and consequences of inequality and well-being of the work force.

Originally published in 1994 this volume investigates the relationship between a firm's decision to integrate vertically and its research and development (R & D) strategy. Literature on vertical integration is reviewed and a framework presented to analyze the costs and benefits of vertical integration. The theoretical basis for the proposed hypostheses is investigated and the hypotheses tested empirically.

Originally published in 1994 this book undertakes a comprehensive study dealing with the effects of machine flexibility, tool magazine capacity, varying production demands and different oeprating policies on the production planning problems. Performance measures such as FMS flexibility, makespan and inventory are used in evaluating the effects. Three measures of FMS flexibility - actual routing flexibility, potential routing flexibility and capacity flexibility are defined and operationalized.

First published in 1995. During the late 1980s and early 1990s the American economy again became immersed in a recession. Consequently, it became very likely that the quality of employment generated during this period would suffer, and the situation of the labor force would be expected to worsen. The study of labor force stratification can illuminate ways in which the American working class is segmented, as well as the relation to other social problems like poverty and delinquency. In this book, the author explores underemployment, an arguably more accurate measure of labor force hardship than unemployment, amongst several demographic groups. This study will be of interest to students of both economics and sociology.

First published in 1987. This fascinating study provides an understanding of the failings of the post-war era of active macroeconomic policy-making, and only by a better comprehension of past failings can we hope to provide the successful policies for the present and future. The book takes as its primary bench mark an analysis of Keynes's conception of the wages problem at or near full employment in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. It then depicts the developments in official thinking and policy with regard to this problem as the confidence in Keynesian principles waxed and waned over the period.

First published in 1990. This edited work brings together a collection of studies, by an international team of contributors, on inter-urban migration, which is largely dominated by labour migration. The structure of the book reflects the interaction of the supply and demand of labour and the information flows that make this possible. The book offers a multi-dimensional analysis of labour migration, including behavioural, economic and institutional approaches. It combines various scales of analysis, including the national scale, the occupational scale and the household scale. The study also examines labour migration in a variety of national contexts. It will be of particular value to professional geographers, economists and sociologists with an interest in the distribution of population and the labour force, planners with responsibility for the development of policy and some final year graduate students.

First published in 1990. Patterns of Labour explores the interaction between home, paid work, and the individual. It looks at how the social relations of work both shape and are shaped by the context in which they occur. In a detailed examination of the pottery industries of Britain and America over two centuries, Richard Whipp looks at the far-reaching effects of key issues, such as industrialisation and economic transformation. However, he also examines changing notions of gender, the family, community and unionisation. The book centres on the difficulties of organising, controlling and describing work - not least because of the human act of its making.

First published in 1985. In this remarkable book, the author has compiled a large collection of resource material that will be of benefit to the student as well as the practitioner of equal employment and affirmative action (EEO/AA). This book includes a broad scope of information on EEO/AA from its infancy and progresses through its rapidly changing and developing stages. Indeed, this book will be an invaluable asset in easily acquiring and supplementing one's basic knowledge as well as providing a general overview of the subject area.

First published in 1991. The connection between housing and work is one of the most discussed yet least understood aspects of modern society. Housing and Labour Markets explores the different ways in which housing and labour are linked and examines their central significance in many of the key changes in society today. It provides a wide-ranging analysis of the relationships between housing and labour markets, with accounts of the different forms of work, paid and unpaid, in which various types of households are engaged. This edited collection addresses the varied impact of restructuring in both housing and labour markets in different localities and regions, including contributions from the USA and Australia. By making an important input into the growing debate over the inks between home and work, this book shows the direction in which the debate should go, draws out the principal lines of connection and suggests a way forward. The issues addressed in Housing and Labour Markets will be of interest to a wide range of social science disciplines, especially urban studies, economics, sociology, geography and planning. Local government officers in housing and planning will also find it makes an invaluable contribution to developing links between housing and the workplace.

First published in 1989. The oil crises of the 1970s and increasing international competitive pressures had profoundly changed the structure and performance of labour. Analysis of labour markets, and especially international comparisons, can be difficult, given the differences between definitions, scope, coverage of data, methods, presentation, and economic and social influence in different regions. This book is an invaluable guide for users of international labour statistics. It centralizes and co-ordinates, from a range of sources, basic statistical information regarding the labour force for a large number of countries. Individual chapters, by specialists in the particular subject areas, deal with eight key aspects relating to the labour markets of major, developed capitalist countries (OECD countries); working population, unemployment, wages, consumer prices, labour costs, hours of work, trade union membership, and industrial disputes. The book discusses the nature of the data sources and statistical compilations, highlights cross-national trends over the past fifteen years, outlines the inherent difficulties of making such cross-country comparisons, and points out the potential pitfalls of interpretation of which users are often insufficiently aware. The book includes a summary of key labour market data, on an individual country basis, for twenty-four OECD countries and twenty other countries.

First published in 1979. This thesis describes the theoretical impact on labour markets of a process of adverse selection similar to that described in outline by George Arthur Akerlof. It concerns the information conveyed to potential employers by the fact that any new worker, except for one just entering the labour force, has either left or is prepared to leave his latest Job. If an employer is able to identify his good workers more accurately than the market at large and is generally successful in retaining them, then the group of workers leaving him will contain a disproportionately small number of good ones. For similar reasons this pool should also contain an unusually large number of bad workers who have been either flied or induced to quit. Thus, workers who change jobs should on average be less able ones. Since the market failures that result have potentially significant consequences in the labour market, this study is devoted to examining their influence on the structure of wages and job tenure, and on the operation and efficiency of labour markets. This title will be of great interest to students of economics and business studies.

First published in 1978. In spite of the wide recognition of Hong Kong's successful growth record, little is known about the impact that rapid industrialisation has had on income distribution. The transformation of an entrepot economy into an industrial one has been accompanied by a transition from a labour surplus to a labour shortage economy, which has had a profound influence on the distribution of income by size. The effect has been channelled through a number of variables such as the composition of employment by industry, occupational structure, labour force participation rate and wage structure. All these changes have, moreover, owed much to the existence of a market mechanism which has been virtually free from government intervention. Beginning with a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the various characteristics of employment and the labour force on household income distribution, this study assesses the impact of Hong Kong's industrialisation and employment growth on its income distribution. Through an analysis of the changes in industrial and occupational structures, employment status, household size, labour participation rate, inflow of labour and wage and employment structures, it considers not only how income distribution alters with economic development, but also the mechanism that has brought about these changes. The redistribution effect of government activities is examined and the incidence of particular taxes to different income groups is apportioned to give a clear overall picture. Finally, the benefits obtained from government expenditures on housing, education and health are measured and are allocated to different income groups, illustrating how this has appreciably reduced income inequality in Hong Kong.

First published in 1970. This book is concerned with the examination and assessment of the impact of changes in technology on companies in three selected industries: printing, steel and chemicals. Its main focus is on the employment and associated labour market effects of technological change; but part of the rationale for the study as a whole has been to relate these effects to the technological environment of each industry. Accordingly, a good deal of attention has been paid to the character of the innovations themselves and to their implications for the industries in general terms. This title will be of interest to students of Business Studies and Economics.

First published in 1983. This text is designed to enable intermediate and advanced students to attain familiarity with the theoretical concepts used in labour market analysis, and to apply them fruitfully to the economic problem of labour markets. Each chapter of Section I deals with a different theoretical development of the basic labour market model of utility maximising labour supply and the marginal productivity theory of labour demand. In addition, the authors discuss in depth uncharted territory including the analysis of uncertainty and discrimination in labour markets and advances in human capital theory, in each case covering the implications both for equity and the efficient allocation of resources. Each chapter of Section II analyses an important economic problem - for instance wage determination, unemployment and inflation - using the theoretical insights derived from Section I. The contributions of different theoretical developments are assessed by reference to the current state of empirical research into labour market problems. This book stresses the interaction between labour market mechanisms and also between market and non-market forces in the belief that this will lead to a greater understanding of the operation of the labour market than can be gained by viewing each theoretical development in isolation from the others.

This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy as well as future challenges and directions for research and policy. Well over half of the global workforce and the vast majority of the workforce in developing countries work in the informal economy, and in countries around the world new forms of informal employment are emerging. Yet the informal workforce is not well understood, remains undervalued and is widely stigmatised. Contributors to the volume bridge a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, development economics, law, political science, social policy, sociology, statistics, urban planning and design. The Informal Economy Revisited also focuses on specific groups of informal workers, including home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers, to provide a grounded insight into disciplinary debates. Ultimately, the book calls for a paradigm shift in how the informal economy is perceived to reflect the realities of informal work in the Global South, as well as the informal practices of the state and capital, not just labour. The Informal Economy Revisited is the culmination of 20 years of pioneering work by WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), a global network of researchers, development practitioners and organisations of informal workers in 90 countries. Researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and advocates will all find this book an invaluable guide to the significance and complexities of the informal economy, and its role in today's globalised economy. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429200724, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

In "All I Want Is a Job ," Mary Gatta puts a human face on workforce development policy. An ethnographic sociologist, Gatta went undercover, posing as a client in a New Jersey One-Stop Career Center. One-Stop Centers, developed as part of the federal Workforce Investment Act, are supposed to be an unemployed worker's go-to resource on the way to re-employment. But, how well do these centers function? With swarms of new clients coming through their doors, are they fit for the task of pairing America's workforce with new jobs?
Weaving together her own account with interviews of jobless women and caseworkers, Gatta offers a revealing glimpse of the toll that unemployment takes and the realities of social policy. Women--both educated and unskilled--are particularly vulnerable in the current economy. Since they are routinely paid less than their male counterparts, economic security is even harder for them to grasp. And, women are more easily tracked into available, low-wage work in sectors such as retail or food service.
Originally designed to pair job-ready workers with available openings, the current system is ill fitted for diverse clients who are seeking gainful employment. Even if One-Stops were better suited to the needs of these workers, good jobs are scarce in the wake of the Great Recession. In spite of these pitfalls, Gatta saw hope and a sense of empowerment in clients who got intensive career counseling, new jobs, and social support.
Drawing together tales from the frontlines, she highlights the promise and weaknesses of One-Stop Career Centers, recommending key shifts in workforce policy. America deserves a system that is less discriminatory, more human, and better able to assist women and their families in particular. The employed and unemployed alike would be better served by such a system--one that would meaningfully contribute to our economic recovery and future prosperity.

Originally published in 1995, this book explores a number of subjects of significance for labor and economic policy, especially the role of U. S. tax policy in the relocation of jobs from the contintental USA to Puerto Rico. The book demonstrates the problems for the USA because of inadequate adjustment policies to protect the interests of communities and workers when plants close and production is relocated. It disproves the myth that markets will take fcare of workers and communities, showing that basic economics is concerned with market forces and not with equity, environmental and worker protections. The Whitehall plant closing case is documented and the economic and political context analyzed which caused that case to be instructive for broader economic and labor policy purposes. In a new age of American Protectionism, this book has enduring relevance.

This volume: * includes on-the-ground studies from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal; * examines the unequal impact of remittances on local economies in South Asia; * factors in how migration as a phenomenon negotiates with gender, environment and even healthcare; * Will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, migration and diaspora studies, gender studies, labour studies and sociology * will also be useful to policymakers and government institutions working in the area.

This volume: * includes on-the-ground studies from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal; * examines the unequal impact of remittances on local economies in South Asia; * factors in how migration as a phenomenon negotiates with gender, environment and even healthcare; * Will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, migration and diaspora studies, gender studies, labour studies and sociology * will also be useful to policymakers and government institutions working in the area.

How do young people make effective transitions into work? This question has occupied the minds of parents and young people, and also researchers and policy makers, as they face up to challenges presented by globalization and technological change. The foremost governmental response to this challenge has been to expand training systems to improve young people's qualifications. However, it is clear that for many this response has failed to deliver the promised rewards and the legitimation of this strategy has been exhausted. This book explores developments in training and in social welfare to show that third way administrations in England and New Zealand are reconnecting young people to the labour market through creating social networks. Social Exclusion and the Remaking of Social Networks describes how networks are being remade by the state in commodified forms.

Presenting the findings of a major research project funded by the EU (INTAS), this key volume investigates the regional, ethnic and socio-cultural aspects of poverty and social exclusion in Russia in recent years. In-depth household interviews and survey data allowed teams from the UK, Denmark and Russia to compare different societies and communities in Russia across several different themes: the definition of poverty in different regional, ethnic and socio-cultural settings; the reproduction and formation of poverty subcultures in different societies and communities; the ethnic/national and political values of poor people; the readiness of poor people for social protest; and a comparison of Russia with other EU countries. Offering a wealth of original data collected following a period of rapid impoverishment of the Russian population, the study considers the challenge this presents to Western European models of poverty and social exclusion.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Reading and Writing in the Global Workplace: Gender, Literacy, and Outsourcing in Ghana by Beatrice Quarshie Smith explores the conditions that underlie the outsourcing of US data-processing work in Ghana. Here Beatrice Quarshie Smith describes the convergence and interplay of at least four different socio-economic forces: (1) the digital and satellite technology enabling virtual environments for global outsourced data-processing; (2) the historical development of Ghana as a politically-stable Anglophone society with a relatively strong tradition of public education; (3) the neoliberal economic restructuring policies advanced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; and (4) the ready availability of women seeking to enter the formal wage economy either to seek independence from their roles within traditional families, or in order to support their families. The author's comparative study of two distinctly different workplaces reveals significant insights about problems of organizational hierarchy and management-employee relations in the cross-cultural environments of out-sourced business and IT process work. Through extensive interviews, the book sheds light on the educational backgrounds, day-to-day struggles, fears, and aspirations of the workers. Quarshie Smith develops this multi-faceted analysis with keen insights into the representational limitations and ethical responsibilities of the researcher. This pioneering study about outsourced data-processing work in West Africa opens up a new area for research and offers a fresh perspective from which to consider outsourcing in other regions of the globe.

This volume contains new important research on worker well-being. Topics include employment contracts, compensation schemes, worker productivity, retirement decisions, the demographic transition, time allocation, and child labor. Among the questions answered are: How important is incentive pay in increasing worker productivity? Does monitoring productivity affect a worker's earnings trajectory? How is the decision to retire different in two-earner families compared to one-earner families? How did the evolution of the family affect men's and women's proclivities to work? Do welfare subsidies encourage recipients to spend additional productive time with their children? Can property titles (land reform) affect child labor in less developed country settings?