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 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.

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.

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.
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Gender is a defining feature of informal/precarious work in the 21st century, yet studies rarely adopt a gendered lens when examining collective efforts to challenge informality and precarity. This volume foregrounds the gendered dimensions of informal/precarious workers' struggles as a crucial starting point for re-theorizing the future of global labor movements. This volume includes six empirical chapters spanning five countries - the United States, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, and India - to explore exactly how gender is intertwined into informal/precarious workers organizing efforts, why gender is addressed, and to what end. The chapters focus on two gender-typed sectors - domestic work and construction - to identify the varying experiences of and struggles against gender and informality/precarity, as well as the conditions of movement success and failure. Across countries and sectors, the volume shows how informal/precarious worker organizations are on the front lines of challenging the multiple forms of gendered inequalities that shape contemporary practices of accumulation and labor regulation. Their struggles are making major transformations in terms of increasing women's leadership and membership in labor movements and exposing how gender interacts with other ascriptive identities to shape work. They are also re-shaping hegemonic scripts of capitalist accumulation, development, and gender to attain recognition for female-dominated occupations and reproductive needs for the first time ever. These outcomes are crucial as sources of emancipatory transformations at a time when state and public support for labor and social protection is facing the deep assault of transnational production and globalizing markets.

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.

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 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.

James Latimore considers the problem of good results or good reports in the context of his study of one small agency's transition from financial independence to government funding dependence. As Latimore points out, private philanthropy has played a large role in America's social and economic history. In recent years, government funding has flowed into private agencies. What happens when private and public overlap? Does public funding change the direction of an agency? Does it become less client centered and more program oriented? How is this change manifested? What specific changes occur in the heretofore private philanthropy? Latimore's study shows that the strengths of philanthropic intervention may be negated by the bureaucratic accountability that accompanies public funding. Latimore suggests that accountability alters the thrust and management of programs in order to show good results.

Combining what economists know about productivity with the findings of organization theorists about worker motivation, the author describes a strategy to improve the quality of work life, with major benefits for both employers and employees.

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 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

This book analyzes the effects of wives' employment on the economic status of families, using both descriptive and empirical research. The historical and socio-economic causes of change in the employment status of wives and husbands are detailed. The empirical studies respond to some basic questions about dual-earner families: How does having an employed wife influence family lifestyles? What effects do dual-earners have on the finances of their households and on the distribution of income? What policy changes are needed to recognize the economic importance of dual-earner families? In Working Wives and Dual-Earner Families, one-earner and dual-earner families are differentiated, with particular attention to the impact of wives' employment status (full-time or part-time) on household decision making. Among the most interesting research findings are: total family income or tax bracket and the cost of child care are among the critical determinants of dual-earner employment; married-couple families at the same level of income have very similar expenditure patterns regardless of whether the wife is employed; full-time working wives make the distribution of income less equal, but part-time working wives generate greater equality in the distribution of income; families with full-time working wives have higher income, but they do not save more or have greater financial assets than other families; families with part-time employed wives are similar to those with non-employed wives and differ from families with full-time employed wives. The authors conclude that the real incomes of dual-earner families will continue to grow, as one-earner real income remains the same or declines. Household planning and decision making will increasingly be predicated upon having two earners, which will be perceived as the norm. Dual-earner families, based on amenities, mobility, growing families, and demands for public goods, will drive private markets and public policy.

The 2008 global financial and economic crisis led to a significant increase in unemployment rates in most developed economies, yet despite the rising supply of labor, a high share of employers claim that they cannot find the right talent and skills. Concerns that economic restructuring and changing skill needs associated with new technologies and workplace organization practices will not be met by an adequately skilled workforce, has placed the issue of skill mismatch - the incongruence between skill supply and skill demand - high up in the policy agenda. This volume contains eleven original research articles which deal with the linkages between education and skills and the causes and consequences of different types of skill mismatch. Topics include the way graduate jobs can be defined, the labor market decisions and outcomes of graduates, the determinants of the overeducation wage penalty, the determinants and consequences of underskilling, the wage return of skills, the impact of skill mismatch on aggregate productivity, and the role of work-related training and job complexity on skill development.

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.

Gender often influences the type of occupation that individuals choose, as well as the way they work and the outcomes of that work. Home-based employment is no different. The proximity of these workers to their families' living activities provides an unique opportunity to study the effects of work-at-home on family interaction and the role that gender plays in this traditionally female-dominated situation.

The chapters provide a range of gender considerations from the perspectives of the workers and the workers' families, with emphasis on either the workers, the family, or the work/business. The first chapter provides an overview of the subjects being covered and defines several of the concepts used. The range of viewpoints is extensive: Chapter 2 considers home-based employment from a global perspective, while Chapter 8 narrows the focus to one particular location and type of home-based worker. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 7 examine in various ways the data from a 9-state study, basing their analyses in theoretical and conceptual frameworks related to gender. Chapter 6 explores the dilemma of parents who have to hire child care in order to complete their home-based work. Also included are recommendations for public policy considerations.

Housework and domestic service have become popular topics within the scholarly community. . . Van Raaphorst . . . adds to this growing literature by illuminating the efforts to organize domestics in the years from the Civil War to WWII. The book does much more than this however. It surveys the period from early colonization to the 1930s and divides the history of domestic service into four distinct chronological eras. . . . The author examines the psychology of housework and assesses the occupation from the perspectives of the employer and employee. Finally, she sketches the seemingly innumerable but inevitably fleeting attempts to better the lot of the domestic either through organization or unionization. "Choice"

"Union Maids Not Wanted" offers a comprehensive investigation of why the most populous group of the female workforce, domestic workers, was unable to establish long-lasting, powerful unions as have other groups of laborers. The author chronicles the number of colorful yet failed attempts at organization throughout the period of 1870-1940, analyzing the factors which worked together to prevent successful unionization. She systematically examines the psychology and nature of domestic work, union rejection of domestic laborers, employers' opposition to organization, and the frequent disagreements among the domestics themselves. Finally, she demonstrates how these factors affected the orientation of domestic workers to the organized labor movement as a whole and as a force within their own ranks.

Manpower analysis and planning for the energy sector is the cornerstone of any successful national energy program. The human resources aspect of energy problems, however, has received little systematic attention. Responding to the need for a comprehensive information source on this important subject, Professor Hosni's bibliography reviews research completed to date and documents the different strategies that have been developed to cope with changing conditions in the energy market. Providing an international perspective, it draws on the literature of the United States and fifty other countries, with particular attention to the Arab world, where both energy and manpower are critical to future development.

Based on case studies of Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia, this book examines the changes in rural labour markets as a result of a decade of structural adjustment programmes. These programmes were meant to shift relative prices in favour of the agricultural sector, and, within the agricultural sector, in favour of export crops. In response, labour should have moved to the favoured sector. The case studies show that such a shift did not occur and the overview chapter reviews the complexities of the African labour markets which ensured this outcome.

This expertly prepared policy issues handbook surveys the changing workplace and the failures of America's public health and education systems to prepare the future work force to compete at home and abroad. Carl Stenberg and William Colman analyze the key issues; review a mass of information, ideas, and insights about policy options that are available; and assess their pros and cons. Students, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and concerned citizens will find a wealth of clearly presented data along with careful analyses of the major proposals for reform. Figures, tables, short summaries, appendices, bibliographical aids, and a full index make this one-volume landmark reference accessible to researchers and readers at different levels and for varied use.

This book offers an assessment of the performance, impact, and welfare implications of the world's largest employment guarantee programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Launched by the Indian government, the programme covers entire rural area of the country. The book presents various micro-level analyses of the programme and its heterogeneous impacts at different scales, almost a decade after its implementation. While there are some doubts over the future of the scheme as well as its magnitude, nature and content, the central government appears committed to it, as a 'convergence scheme' of various other welfare and rural development programmes being implemented at both national and state level. The book discusses the outcomes of the programme and offers critical insights into the lessons learnt, not only in the context of India, but also for similar schemes in countries in South and South-East Asia as well as in Africa, and Latin America. Adopting inter-disciplinary perspectives in analysing these issues, this unique book uses a judicious mix of methods---integrating quantitative and qualitative tools---and will be an invaluable resource for analysts, NGOs, policymakers and academics alike.

Organisations, as well as individuals and societies, continue to struggle with the complexity associated with unprecedented demographic changes. Workforce ageing and increasing age diversity are not transient phenomena, and their implications are compounded by the combination of several global trends like workers' increased mobility and migration, as well as increasing gender and ethnic differences. This demographic pressure compels organisations to question conventional ways of management thinking, doing and being in order to capitalize on the benefits of an age-diverse workforce. This volume bridges theoretical and empirical approaches in order to illuminate the challenges of valuing employees at any point in their professional lives, from youth to retirement. Embracing perspectives that span from the individual to the organisational levels of analysis, the book explores the two distinct but intertwined phenomena of workforce ageing and increasing workforce age diversity. The volume is divided into two parts. Contributions in the first section raise questions about the meanings of age and age diversity, as well as how and when age matters in organisations. The second part of the book examines the role and contribution of HR practices in forging an age-inclusive workplace.

This book addresses topics and issues of high relevance to the widely shared desire to promote inclusive growth, sustainability, and innovation within a context of global governance. It is based on the XXXth Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, where leading experts met to discuss the latest research and thinking on different aspects of globalization, trade, inequalities, growth imbalances, green technologies, the labor market, and financial systems. The aim is to stimulate new responses and possible solutions to a variety of well-recognized problems, including low growth in real wages, stagnating productivity, and growing disparities in income. Some of these problems are especially evident in Europe, where austerity policies have failed to deliver adequate growth and investment. However, while a number of the contributions focus on aspects of particular importance to Europe, others look further afield, for example to the scope for innovation in Africa and to experiences with quantitative easing in Japan. The book will be of wide interest to academics, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

During the past decade the issue of a general welfare double dividend (an improvement in environmental quality combined with a positive welfare effect) triggered by a tax shift from labour to energy resources has been extensively debated. In this book, Kurt Kratena studies the employment effects of revenue neutral tax shifts from labour to energy, and measures the impact on theoretical and empirical models of the European labour market. A common theoretical framework is devised to analyse the impact of environmental tax reform. Various 'labour market regimes' (competitive labour markets, union wage bargaining and efficiency wages) are derived and taken as the starting point for different specifications of the labour market. The theoretical outcomes of tax shifts in these different labour market regimes are then analysed and compared. The results reveal that whereas an econometric based multi-sectoral model yields significant double dividend effects, a general equilibrium model only finds employment double dividend effects. The book also highlights the potentially positive economic consequences of environmental tax reform such as a shift in demand from energy to non-energy goods. This book provides a concise appraisal of the general double dividend question combined with an innovative analysis of the employment double dividend effect. It utilises extensive empirical evidence and reveals the sensitivity of the various theoretical concepts surrounding the debate. This book will be of interest and relevance to academics in the fields of environmental economics, labour theory and fiscal studies.