As organizations seek to reduce costs, there has been a growth in service sector offshoring and outsourcing, notably to developing countries. However, despite a burgeoning literature on this phenomenon, little attention has been given to the working and employment that exist in the growing number of business process outsourcing/IT-enabled services' workplaces in developing countries.
 
The authors Ghosheh and Messenger address this by examining and providing an historical context of the development of the industry, with case study analysis in four countries where the industry is large or growing, and give policy advice from employers to policy makers on how the growth of 'good quality' jobs can be ensured as these industries grow and mature around the world.

Featuring new findings and fresh insights from an international roster of labor economists, including such eminent authors as Morley Gunderson, Harry Holzer, and Paul Ryan, this book delves into a uniquely wide range of high-profile labor issues affecting youth in the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan - from declining job, wage, and training prospects to workplace health hazards, immigration, union activism, and new policy strategies. This widely accessible introduction to the latest research in the area presents original empirical economic studies in an engaging style. All may find something of interest in the host of controversial topics of lively public debate that are covered, including: youth unemployment, earnings mobility, racial/ethnic and gender inequalities, training quality and access, job hazards, health insurance coverage, immigration, minimum wage laws, union organizing, and global economic competition. Young Workers in the Global Economy is written in a clear and accessible style for a broad readership ranging from scholars and college students to employers, unions, career counselors, human resource professionals, vocational trainers, policy analysts, government officials, immigration and health care activists, as well as to the wider public concerned about the future of youth career prospects.

Focusing on organization, resistance and political culture, this collection represents some of the best examples of recent Spanish historiography in the field of modern Spanish labor movements. Topics range from socialism to anarchism, from the formation of the liberal state in the 19th century to the Civil War, and from women in the work place to the fate of the unions under Franco.

Examining the premise that the process of economic liberalization has had a significant impact on the labor markets of many countries, this contributed volume studies that impact in different countries and regions from both theoretical and applied perspectives. While recognizing that liberalization entails many elements, the book focuses on how structural adjustment policies have contributed to the overall development effort. The first four chapters analyze the relationship between economic liberalization and labor markets, and then investigate this relationship within broader regions, such as North-South, transition economies, and Africa. The remaining chapters provide case studies of Greece, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkey.

All the country chapters treat political economy issues and related policy conclusions. Stressing the interrelationship between liberalization and labor markets, the chapters discuss the importance of institutional, political, and legal factors in considering the effects of liberalization policies on the structure of labor markets and its participants. The book is an important look at a previously unexplored area of economic analysis.

Those promoting economic development in the Third World often disregard the disadvantaged position of women or lack adequate information to assess the role of women. This book seeks to remedy that situation by providing a detailed examination of patterns and determinants of female labor force participation in three developing countries: Thailand, Colombia, and Egypt. The analysis is based on detailed interviews with women about factors such as migration patterns, the employment situation, household conditions, and other relevant socioeconomic activities. The result is a comprehensive explanation of female economic behavior in developing countries that forms the basis for a broader understanding of women's economic conditions across culture.

For each country studied, the authors focus on women's employment in the capital city. Combining the economic model of household time allocation and the sociological life course perspective, they document the influence of social origins, early work experience, and household conditions on women's labor force participation. Their findings provide valuable new information concerning the status and conditions of women who join the labor force: the resources available to them and constraints on participation; the relationships between household and female employment; and the influence of education on current economic behavior. Based on their research, the authors then propose and discuss various policies which might serve to improve female economic status in developing countries.

Family policy holds a particular status in the quest for a more equitable world as it intersects the rights of women, children, and workers. But despite local and global efforts and initiatives, the state of family policy in different areas of the world varies widely. Through a cross-section of countries on six continents, Family Policies Across the Globe offers the current state of the laws concerning family life, structure, and services, providing historical, cultural, and socioeconomic context. Lucidly written chapters analyze key aspects of family definition, marriage, child well-being, work/family balance, and family assistance, reviewing underlying social issues and controversies as they exist in each country. Details of challenges to implementation and methods of evaluating policy outcomes bring practical realities into sharp focus, and each chapter concludes with recommendations for improvement at the research, service, and governmental levels. The result is an important comparative look at how governments support families, and how societies perceive themselves as they evolve. Among the issues covered: Sierra Leone: toward sustainable family policies. Russia: folkways versus state-ways. Japan: policy responses to a declining population. Australia: reform, revolutions, and lingering effects. Canada: a patchwork policy. Colombia: a focus on policies for vulnerable families. Researchers , professors and graduate students in the fields of social policy, child and family studies, psychology, sociology, and social work will find in Family Policies Across the Globe a reference that will grow in importance as world events continue to develop.

Retail workers are a large labor force, yet their jobs are generally devalued and dominated by low wages, precarious conditions, and disrespect. Coulter draws on three years of comparative research on retail workers and political action, including fieldwork in Canada, the United States, and Sweden, to explore what is needed to improve workers' wellbeing and transform retail work. The only book of its kind, "Revolutionizing Retail" explains the strategies being used to improve retail jobs and retail workers' quality of life, including diverse forms of organizing, public policy, and good management. Coulter analyzes the degree to which current efforts are succeeding, and what lessons they offer about the present and future of work, forms of agency, and class, gender, and race relations. The power of culture, emotions, and workers' personal experiences of political action are at the heart of this engaging discussion of the challenges and possibilities of social change.

"This volume is one of the first books to consider the impact of tripartism across the developing world. It covers 8 case studies from Afrcia, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, focusing on developments since the 1990s. These studies show that tripartism has the effect of reducing the social impact of neo-liberal economics reforms"--Provided by publisher.

Unemployment costs the United States at least $400 billion per year in lost output. This number does not begin to add up the total costs of unemployment that include many serious social problems like increased divorce and crime rates. If unemployment costs so much, why don't we simply pump up demand and push the unemployment rate down? The answer lies in the relationship between inflation and unemployment: we simply cannot push unemployment below the rate that is compatable with stable inflation.

Must we, then, just live with unemployment? No. But to understand how we can reduce unemployment, we must understand the nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU). What determines the level of the NAIRU? Has that level increased? Can we reduce the current NAIRU? These are important questions addressed in "Reducing Unemployment" Ottosen and Thompson argue that the NAIRU has increased significantly over the past 30 years. Many blame structural unemployment for that increase. Others have argued that increases in social welfare programs and payments are to blame. But hardly anyone has examined the effects of increasing government regulations on the NAIRU. "Reducing Unemployment" remedies this oversight, and also looks at the effects of unionization and productivity on the NAIRU. The authors conclude that the United States does not have to tolerate a high unemployment rate, for the NAIRU can be reduced through appropriate government deregulation.

In the face of globalization, workers feel less secure in their jobs and fear wage losses and unemployment. This book explores these issues, asking whether the concerns are warranted.It brings together recent work in an important and rapidly expanding area. It provides comprehensive coverage of both theoretical and empirical aspects. It takes popular concerns about globalization seriously.Although economists have long pointed to the aggregate gains from increased economic integration, the popular perception of globalization is much more pessimistic.

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In the last decades, women's role in the workforce has dramatically changed, though gender inequality persists and for women, gender identity still prevails over work identity. It is important not to forget or diminish the historical role of women in the labour market though and this book proposes a critical overview of the most recent historical research on women's roles in economic urban activities. Covering a wide area of early modern Europe, from Portugal to Poland and from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, Bellavitis presents an overview of the economic rights of women - property, inheritance, management of their wealth, access to the guilds, access to education - and assesses the evolution of female work in different urban contexts.

This open access book examines the economic, social, and psychological consequences of manufacturing plant closure at the individual level. Using an original data set of over 1,200 workers from Switzerland who lost their manufacturing jobs after the financial crisis of 2008, the author analyzes the determinants of reemployment, the sector of reemployment, and the change in wages over a two year period. In addition, coverage also explores how plant closure affects the social relationship between a displaced worker and his or her significant other, which includes a discussion of the coping strategies on the household level as well as how changes in a worker's social and occupational life affects overall satisfaction. Readers will discover that the burden of structural change disproportionately falls on the shoulders of workers aged 55 and older who often face substantial barriers when trying to return to employment. A larger portion of this group experience long-term unemployment and those who do manage to find a new job often suffer disproportionate wage loss. This result is intriguing in the context of the current demographic change and contradicts the common assumption that young and low-qualified individuals are at greatest risk of unemployment. Advanced age-and not low education-appears to be the primary obstacle to workers finding job satisfaction after being laid off because of market conditions.

The book examines the status of public service in developing countries, in the sectors of health, infrastructure, labour and marginalized populations, rural economy and public administration. The last decade has witnessed significant government focus on service delivery in developing nations like South Africa, Philippines, India and Malaysia. At the forefront of this movement has been the public sector reforms significantly driven by two broad factors: public sector inefficiencies and liberal economic ideology. This move towards efficient public service delivery in developing nations (versus developed nations) has required a significant shift in institutional thinking and institutional capacity for the governments. It is therefore no surprise that while economic liberalization has been relatively easy to implement, governance reforms towards public service delivery has been significantly more challenging. In this background, the chapters of the book, with sector themes, examine the three basic foundations of public policy-courses of action, regulatory measures and issues, and funding structures and priorities-in public service delivery. The book is a multi country, multi sector, perspective since it includes studies from Russian Federation, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Fiji, South Africa, Columbia, Philippines, Macedonia and India. This perspective lends itself to the investigation for a comprehensive overall development model.

This book provides a systematic examination of the relationship between industrial clusters and poverty, which is analyzed using a multidimensional framework. It examines the often-neglected concept of social protection as a means of mitigating the risks and vulnerabilities faced by workers and citizens in poor countries. By analyzing the case of the Otigba Information and Communications Technology cluster in Lagos, Nigeria, the author shows under which conditions firms in productive clusters can pass on benefits to workers in ways that improve their living standards in the wider socio-economic and spatial context of the region. The results presented provide substantial evidence of opportunities for economic development, helping planners to explore different avenues for integrating firm-driven social protection into social policy.

The peristence of European unemployment stands in striking contrast to the cyclical pattern of unemployment in the US. Many people attribute the rise in European unemployment to increased imbalances between the pattern of labour demand and supply - in other words, to greater mismatch, but existing mismatch indicators do not support this view. However, the obvious inference is not legitimate because the evidence is based on trended data, and thus gives rise to spurious statistical results. To get around the problem, the author uses the dynamic flow approach to structural unemployment and disaggregated data. The reader will find new results on "non-spurious" mismatch tendencies, occupational reallocation, the matching of apprentices, and the importance of matching and mobility for wage differentials.

A worsening economic crisis due to the shift in wealth over the past decade is the central concern of this carefully documented study. It profiles the current status of income inequality in the United States and discerns disturbing trends for the future. A wealth of data are collected, evaluated, and simplified into a straightforward look at both the economic changes brought on by misguided reforms of the 1980s and a proposed system for measuring income inequality which may help clarify the issues pertinent to the debate.

Folke Dovring perceives the current U.S. economy as an imminent threat to our democratic system, and urges increased awareness of the variables which will effect its return to a healthy state of balance where income inequality, necessary to a certain degree, sustains productivity and individual incentives. A general overview of the facts and problems associated with income distribution, viewed from historical, geographical, and sociological perspectives, establishes the study's priorities, and is followed by the development of criteria which can more accurately estimate the nature and extent of income inequality, moving the study closer to recommendations for systematic public policy which may promote continued economic growth. The urgency with which Dovring addresses this topic and the thoroughness of his presentation will compel scholars and policymakers, especially those interested in poverty economics, to give immediate attention to the issue of economic inequality through informed, meaningful discussion.

From the larger field of women and employment law, Maschke has carved out a study that focuses exclusively on the impact Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act has had on women workers. . . . Maschke focus es] on the history of women workers from the days of protective laws, through the difficult birth of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to present-day struggles involving pregnant workers, sexual harassment, and comparable worth. Although legalistically oriented, the book is also attuned to the political in noting diverse strategies among women's organizations and the varying congressional and presidential commitments to the promotion of the equality of women's workers. . . . Concise and readable with a select bibliography and index. "Choice"

A major contribution to the literature on the legal rights of women workers, this volume combines empirical investigation and case law analysis to provide a thorough study of sex discrimination litigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the author notes at the outset, Title VII, although not a panacea for sex discrimination, is the most important federal statute guaranteeing equality in the workplace for women workers. Her study examines how women have fared in Title VII litigation and how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), as the government's enforcement agency, played a role in Title VII litigation and in the development of legal policy in this area.

Divided into three major sections, the volume begins by exploring the protective labor laws that restricted women's job opportunities at the turn of the century. Maschke goes on to trace the origins of Title VII and to examine the political controversy surrounding the use of litigation to enforce Title VII. The second section analyzes the development of law resulting from cases involving pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, wage discrimination, and protective policies. In addition to case law analysis, these chapters examine the EEOC's response to the issues and demonstrate that the agency has often been inconsistent in developing sex discrimination policies. In the final section, Maschke addresses group and EEOC litigation activities in sex discrimination cases, focusing on aspects of decision making in the federal courts. The concluding chapter considers how courts and the litigation process played a role in expanding the rights of women workers.

This book argues that economic activity in the public sphere now underwrites private corporations, and rejects rigid adherence to traditional economic theories that no longer apply. Adam Smith's widely used "merchant's model" assumes that most investment is private, when in fact research demonstrates that public investment in the workforce through education and training far outweighs the private sector, and does not account for the growing presence of consensual pricing, the diversification of modern businesses, or the increasing internal authoritarianism of globalizing companies. With de facto public support for these adaptations undermining the universally presumed economic model, private corporations are able to increase their profits while misrepresenting the investment of their own global labor forces. This book suggests an "economy of laws" solution that balances the needed degree of central investment planning with the continuation of our pluralist economy of largely autonomous firms, principally by extending the full rights of citizens into the workplace itself.

Transition economies offer a test case for concepts and theories, for broader ideas and for the methods of scientific enquiry, but also for the multiplicity of ideological interpretations. Designing the strategies for the transition processes and testing the theories relative to economic, social and political change constitute an unprecedented challenge to intellectual capacity of the scientific community. This volume brings together a team of leading international economists to address the major issues of transformation, institutional design, the redistribution paradigm and the macroeconomic decisions to be made.

More than twenty million migrant workers send $40 billion to their countries of origin each year, making labor second only to oil as the most important commodity traded internationally. The essays contained here deal with this unsettled sociopolitical issue--international labor migration and its relationship to economic development--seeking to determine the effects of recruitment, remittances, and return migration on labor-exporting countries. Many analysts, sending-country governments, employers, and migrant workers feel that countries with unemployed workers should, if possible, export them to countries with labor shortages. Remittances from migrants and returning workers who were trained abroad should stimulate economic growth enough to reduce unemployment and pressures to emigrate. It was projected that within a decade or less, labor-importing countries would emerge from the labor-shortage phase of their development. However, migrant workers have become a structural feature of the economies in Western Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, and the United States: emigration does not promote development in the sending countries. This collection of twelve chapters by experts in the field examines the conceptual and theoretical issues in international labor migration and looks at the relationship between migration and development in Africa, between Mediterranean countries and Europe, between Asian labor exporters and Middle Eastern importers, and the effects of emigration on Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition to comprehensive introductory and concluding sections, Conceptual and Theoretical Issues in International Labor Migration and The Unsettled Relationship between Migration and Development, the volume is divided into four additional sections that scrutinize labor migration and development in Africa, Greece, and Turkey, Asian countries, and Latin America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The book's recurring theme states that there is no iron law of migration-induced development: recruitment, remittances, and returns do not automatically generate stay-at-home development. This first thorough and comparative treatment, with its focus on the population, social policy, labor market, language, and foreign policy implications of recent and present policies, will be invaluable for courses on refugees and migrants in sociology and comparative public policy. Research libraries and international assistance organizations will find it an indispensable resource.

This volume is the second book based on comparative and comprehensive data from the 2003 representative European Union Company survey of Operating hours, Working times and Employment (EUCOWE) in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The EUCOWE project is the first representative and standardised European company survey which covers all categories of firm sizes and all sectors of the economy. This volume complements and builds on the first book published in 2007, in which the methodology and the descriptive national findings as well as some first comparative analytical results were presented. In this second book the EUCOWE research team presents in-depth cross-country analyses of the relationship between operating hours, working times and employment in the European Union. Six empirical chapters of this volume provide detailed comparative analyses of the determinants and consequences of the duration and flexibility of opening hours and operating times.

The Emergence of Modern South Africa views economic conflict, specifically the interaction of the state, big business, and labor, as the central issue in the development of South Africa. Yudelman focuses on the labor-management conflict in the country's gold fields in the early decades of this century, a time and place critical to the development of the state. At that time government walked a tightrope between supporting big business (to ensure economic growth) and appeasing the workers (to remain in power). Yudelman demonstrates how a symbiotic alliance between the mining companies and the state successfully subjugated the workers, and points out that this unique relationship continues to this day, dominating every aspect of life in South Africa. David Yudelman's historical analysis and lengthy epilogue on the 1970s and 1980s shed light on today's economic unrest and those conflicts to come. His book also shows how the South African case provides early and important insights into the development of the state-business symbiosis in industrial societies everywhere.

Toward a Future Beyond Employment proposes that as poor nations move to the emerging stage and as emerging economies become advanced, advanced economies are transitioning to a stage of their own, to a type of post-employment economy where society works less, consumes less, but instead has more time.