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Worsening joblessness in India is put forward here from the multiple and interconnected argumentative lens of formal-informal dichotomy by labour productivity differential, market size constraint, labour market flexibility, capital inflows, political constraint, corporate industrialization and welfare economic implications. In the process, the limitations of the classic developmental ideas of Kuznets, Lewis and Schumpeter are critiqued. Thereafter, an alternative policy framework is proposed to achieve economic development focused on employment, equity and environmental uplift. The paper shows how the massive unemployment problem can be managed in India's democratic set up by departing from conventional wisdom about industrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study critically engages with the 'end of neoliberalism' debates which have peaked following the globally detrimental impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper suggests that crises of the pandemic predetermine neither the end of neoliberalism nor its regeneration. It is argued that 'death or resurrection' of neoliberalism is conditioned in the ways through which subjects experience ongoing crises and translate them into particular actions. On that basis, the paper focuses on Turkey's labour regime under pandemic conditions to reveal how the imaginings and political practices of the Turkish state, companies, and (self-employed courier) workers regenerate the enduring principles of neoliberalism – including (global) market competitiveness, deregulation, labour market flexibility, economic individualism, and status-seeking – even in moments of crises. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the emerging visibility of alternative modes of practices, which potentially involve new possibilities to mobilise towards post-neoliberal politics under crisis-ridden pandemic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper connects labour market flexibility with the number of workers living in poverty. • A dynamic panel cointegrating technique is applied to 15 european union countries. • Results suggests that higher flexibility increases the number of poor workers. • The effects are amplified when the poverty of the whole population is considered. • The supposed increased efficiency may lead to a weakening of the social fabric. Labour market flexibility is one of the main pillars of the European policy framework, as it is perceived as an instrument to promote growth with positive spillover effects on the workers' income. The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of competition in the labour market on workers' living conditions from a macroeconomic perspective. An empirical dynamic panel co-integration technique connecting indicators of workers' poverty to an index of 'labour flexibility' is applied to 15 European Union countries. The results suggest that higher flexibility of the labour market is correlated, in the long run, with a higher number of workers living in poverty, considered in both relative and absolute terms. When examining the population as a whole, these results seem to be amplified, suggesting that the strategy of pressure on the labour market could be detrimental not only for workers but also for general living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the Italian total factor productivity (TFP) growth for the 1995-2012 period that takes into account the factors explaining cross-regional differences in productivity growth. We focus on the changes in the quality of labor caused by the increasing use of temporary workers and on the migration flows of human-capital, which almost unidirectionally moved from the Southern to the Northern-Centre regions. Empirical results provide evidence of a non-linearity (U-shaped) in the relationship between the use of temporary workers and TFP growth, which suggests that TFP growth in some Southern regions benefited from the increase in the share of temporary workers after the early 2000s, while regions in the Centre-North regions experienced an opposite effect, with the share of temporary workers being negatively related to TFP growth. Results also show that migration flows of qualified human capital had a positive impact on TFP growth in the regions of destinations, while the number of emigrants have a positive effect on the TFP growth in the regions of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper pursues two aims. The first is to argue that the foundation of Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation is to be found, not in the labour theory of value, but rather in the contract of employment, the legal frame of the capital-labour relation. The second is to suggest that the partial externalisation of the reproduction cost of labour power has been an important source of relative surplus value, along with the productivity increase, emphasised by Marx, in the industries supplying wage goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on position of older workers on labour market. It tries to identify and shortly describe the main factors affecting chances of older workers to get and keep a job. There are many approaches how to evaluate the opportunities and obstacles faced by older workers. On the basis of review of literature this paper points to significant problems that population ageing can bring to labour market. The differences between changes in productivity and changes in earnings might lead to reduction of employment of older workers. Technological progress or structural changes in industrial economies leads to other difficulties associated with ageing. Both employment and hiring of older workers are influenced by institutional arrangement. The future reforms should be aimed at improving flexibility of the labour market or eliminating stickiness of wages. The attention should be also paid to pension system and social security system. Finally, better education, training and health might help to delay the retirement as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Recent economic recession has highlighted the role of labour market flexibility as a key factor of competitiveness of a country. Despite the fact that labour mobility can essentially be seen as part of labour market flexibility, there is notable research gap concerning spatial mobility and other facets of labour market flexibility. The purpose of this special issue is to fill these gaps. Design/methodology/approach – The papers in the special issue represent various quantitative methods and databases, whereas mainly micro data (workplace, labour force or immigrant surveys, job search portal, etc.) is used. However, the type of labour market flexibility addressed is both micro- and macro-level. Findings – It is demonstrated that labour occupational mobility is determined by the business cycle, numerical flexibility, occupational categories, and sector. Spatial mobility may have counterintuitive effects on individual occupational mobility depending on gender and it is related to various flexibilities in the workplace. It is also suggested that different types of flexibilities on a firm level are interdependent of each other. Originality/value – The special issue adds to the labour market related knowledge by integrating labour market flexibility and mobility. Individually, both phenomena have been studied before, but not much research is devoted to their inter-linkages. The special issue also contributes by examining labour market flexibility and spatial mobility in the context of different countries, economic cycles, and institutional settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The research question which this paper aims to address is: To what extent does (labour) flexibility contribute to crisis resistance at establishment level? More specifically, the authors seek to analyse the determinants of variation in the extent to which establishments showed resistance to the global financial crisis (GFC), i.e. the extent to which they were affected by the crisis, focusing on an available secondary dataset related to organizational, industry-level, and (numerical) labour flexibility. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a unique cross-sectional dataset of 8,000 establishments in Germany, the authors use binary logistic regression to assess the link between organizational characteristics, industry-specific factors and workforce characteristics, and the fact that some establishments were affected by the GFC while others were not affected. Findings – Establishment size, being located in western Germany and business problems before the crisis were positively associated with being affected by the crisis. The sector of economic activity also played a significant role. Contrary to predictions relating to the strategies employed by flexible firms, the extent to which they made use of temporary agency workers or of fixed-term employees showed no significant association with crisis resistance. Practical implications – The dependent variable measures the management respondent's (subjective) perception of being affected by the crisis, although it does not specify the ways in which a company has been affected, for example by a drop in demand or by difficulty in extending credit. The set of independent variables permits several tentative conclusions regarding numerical and functional flexibility, but it does not take alternative forms of flexibility into account. Originality/value – Using a unique and representative dataset, the findings suggest a less important role for numerical flexibility in establishment performance and crisis resistance when compared to other variables, at least within the authors' research framework and its exceptional external economic circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia continues to bear the scars of the 1997 financial crisis, with the highest open unemployment rate in Southeast Asia. The orthodox interpretation is that the post-crisis era in Indonesia is typified by overly generous labour legislation that has seen an aggressive pursuit of minimum wages and other provisions. The consequent rise in real wages adversely impacted the investment climate and impeded employment growth in the formal sector. Detailed sectoral analysis reveals very little evidence of a wage-driven cost squeeze on profit margins. Econometric estimation of sectoral employment functions shows that output growth plays a more significant role in determining employment than real wage. This is also confirmed by enterprise surveys which reveal that current labour legislation is not at the top of the list of concerns among investors. Thus, this paper contends that Indonesia's current labour woes are best understood as the reflection of structural change and a demand-constrained economy. Any employment-creation strategy must therefore consider both demand and cost factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on a microeconomic analysis of the annual transition rate from temporary to permanent work of individual workers in Canada for the period 1999–2004. Given that a large proportion of temporary employment is involuntary, an understanding of the factors associated with the transition to permanent work may inform public policy. Factors associated with the transition, namely, human capital, household structures and labour market segmentation are analyzed using data from the Statistics Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) for the period 1999–2004, limited to paid workers aged 20–64 years, excluding students. Among the key factors associated with the transitions are younger age and low unemployment rates. The analysis adds to the Canadian and international literature on transitions from temporary to permanent work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the centrality of the issue of labour market flexibility, attempts to consistently measure levels of flexibility, either within or across countries, have been remarkably scarce. This paper makes a significant contribution towards filling this gap by presenting a set of labour market flexibility indicators for the UK. Derived from survey-data sources, the indexes relate directly to theoretical considerations on the issue of flexibility and cover a 20-year period (1979–1998) at sub-national detail (Standard Statistical Regions). Examination of their temporal evolution and regional variation reveals a number of interesting findings, most notably that increases in flexibility have not been uniform across space and that persistent regional differences exist in functional specialisations in flexibility with the most significant pattern of regional differentiation being not in the levels of (overall) flexibility but in the types of flexible arrangements that prevail in each region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the impact of temporary work on two dimensions of social inequality: income and career mobility. Additionally, we are taking a comparative perspective on this subject by comparing Germany and the UK. To investigate the effects of temporary work we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Study on non-self-employed respondents. The results show that temporary work does influence the system of social inequality: we found wage penalties and an increased probability of severe negative effects on the working careers of temporarily employed persons in both countries (net of education, age, and a variety of other covariates). Thus we can conclude that temporary employment represents a substantial socio-economic risk for employees. Most importantly, this holds true for both the German and the British case, two quite distinct labour market regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]