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This paper presents the influx of migrants into the elderly care sector in Poland, which, until recently, has been perceived as a country that “exports” caregivers. It describes the results of 31 individual in-depth interviews conducted with immigrant women who take care of elderly in Poland. The purpose of the study was to determine the profile of an immigrant taking up work in the elderly care sector, including the specification of their education level and competencies. It was determined that 55% of the respondents have higher education, including over 20% with a degree in nursing or physiotherapeutic education. It was established that, when analysing migrants in the care sector, it seems necessary not to divide migrants based on their education level (high- vs. low-skilled), but rather to consider the education profile as a whole (general and special profile education). Women with specialised education differ from the other migrants in regard to their better labour market position (higher remuneration, legal employment) and the scope of skill usage. The comparison of high-skilled and low-skilled workers in the care sector is very useful from the perspective of policymakers due to the fact that there is an issue of over-qualification in Poland. The article contributes to the literature, especially research dealing with brain waste, as there is theoretical and empirical gap in research on the differences between high-skilled and low-skilled migrants working in elderly care.

Wage are the greatest pushing factor for many workers to work and positively relates to employee life satisfaction. Meanwhile, fringe benefits improve the skills and knowledge of workers and enhance the organization’s reputation. Minimum wage policies around the world uphold the principle to provide a basic living wage for their workers. Nevertheless, the impact of national minimum wage policy on Malaysian employees, in particular, was the least explored since enacted into law in 2012. This study examines the minimum- wage impact on low-level skilled workers in the electrical and electronics industry in Malaysia. Minimum wage can have an effect on labor productivity and fringe benefits, particularly training, allowances, and insurance, have become important research topics. As such, this research discusses the effect of minimum wages on labor productivity and fringe benefits of employees. A semi-structured survey questionnaire was distributed to 600 employees in electrical and electronics firms in Penang and Kulim Industrial Zones. Data from 432 questionnaires were quantitatively analyzed using Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA). The findings suggest that employers should make some adjustments in administering the wage scale due to the implementation of minimum wage national policy that has impacted firms’ costs and incomes. The results also found that the minimum wage affects labor productivity and wage differences among workers. Meanwhile, the minimum wage does not adversely affect the adjustments to the fringe benefits, except for the provision of training. This study recommends more strategic plans and negotiations between stakeholders on wage and fringe benefits that would warrant continuous positive effects for both workers and employers.

Low-skilled prime-age men are less likely to be employed than high-skilled prime-age men, and the differential has increased since the 1970s. I build a search model encompassing three explanations: (1) automation and trade reduced the demand for low-skilled workers; (2) health, welfare, and recreational gaming/computer technology reduced the supply of low-skilled workers; and (3) factors affecting job search, such as online job boards, reduced frictions for high-skilled workers. I find a shift in demand away from low-skilled workers was the leading cause, a shift in supply had little effect, and search frictions actually reduced employment inequality.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of immigration on the labour market outcomes of low-educated natives (i.e. residents without a university diploma). Using the labour market competition theory, which argues that the labour market effects of natives depend on the skill set of immigrants, the paper addresses whether immigrants are complementary to or substitutes for native workers.Design/methodology/approachLongitudinal matched employer–employee data on Sweden are used to estimate how low-educated natives, in regions experiencing the greatest influx of refugees from the Balkan wars, responded to this supply shock with regard to real wages, employment and job mobility between 1990 and 2003.FindingsFirst, the analysis shows that low-educated native workers respond to the arrival of immigrants with an increase in real wages. Second, although employment prospects in general worsened for low-skilled workers in most regions, this is not attributable to the regions experiencing the largest supply shock. Third, there are indications that low-skilled natives in immigration-rich regions are more likely to change workplace, particularly in combination with moving upwards in the wage distribution.Originality/valueRather than seeing an emergence of the commonly perceived displacement mechanism when an economy is subject to a supply shock, the regional findings suggest that high inflows of immigrants tend to induce a mechanism that pulls native workers upwards in the wage distribution. This is important, as the proportion of immigrants is seldom evenly distributed within a nation.

In this paper, I examine the welfare impact of migration in a general equilibrium model with endogenous worker location choice. My framework incorporates labor productivity differences across countries, worker heterogeneity in productivity across skill and nativity types, as well as country-pair specific costs of migration. In a series of experiments, I predict the migration response of workers to an expansion or contraction in the number of European Union (EU) member countries. For the case of the United Kingdom (U.K.) leaving the EU, commonly referred to as Brexit, low skilled native-born U.K. workers suffer a drop-in income, whereas high skilled workers experience an increase. This result is driven, in part, by an increase in high skilled immigration to the U.K. from outside the EU, which helps to dampen the loss in income of low skilled workers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the visibility of “low skilled” migrant workers in the agricultural and care work sectors, who have been rebranded as “essential” by receiving states in the Glo...

This study aimed to investigate: i) how Small-Sided and Conditioned Games based on different representation and exaggeration modification strategies, from the Teaching Games for Understanding pedagogical principles, affected team performance and exploratory behaviour; and ii) how teams and players of different ages and skill levels were affected by the use of these different modification strategies. In total, forty-eight youth male soccer players participated in the study (U15, n = 24 mean age = 13.06 ± 1.53 years; U17, n = 24 mean age = 16.89 ± 0.11 years). In both categories, players were organized into three groups according to their tactical efficiency level (Group 01 = High Skilled Players (HSP), Group 02 = Intermediate Skilled Players (ISP), and Group 03 = Low Skilled Players (LSP)). The HSP and LSP groups performed two types of Gk+4vs4+Gk Small-Sided and Conditioned Games (SSCGs) based on different representation and exaggeration modification strategies. The first type of SSCGs was modified by structural constraints (Structural SSCG) and the second type was modified by rule manipulation (Manipulation SSCG). Team performance and exploratory behaviour were analysed through the Offensive Sequences Characterization System and Lag Sequential Analysis, respectively. SSCG modification strategies affected differently tactical performance and exploratory behaviour of teams composed of players of different skill levels. It was found that SSCG modification strategy through rule manipulation provided players and teams with a higher level of difficulty, compromising their performance and inhibiting exploratory behaviour. This information is crucial to practitioners wishing to apply more appropriate pedagogical strategies to improve a specific tactical problem using a player-centred and game-based approach.

This article considers the regulation of entry pathways for temporary migrants into the Australian labour market. Australia’s temporary labour migration program accounts for one tenth of the labour market and has increased substantially in the last three decades. Although there is a discrete dedicated labour migration program for temporary skilled workers, there is also a substantial contribution made by unskilled and low skilled temporary migrants through the international student and working holiday maker programs. Cet article étudie la réglementation des voies d’entrée pour les migrants temporaires sur le marché du travail australien. Le programme australien de migration de main-d’œuvre temporaire représente un dixième du marché du travail et a considérablement augmenté au cours des trois dernières décennies. Bien qu’il existe un programme spécifique de migration de main-d’œuvre dédié aux travailleurs temporaires qualifiés, les migrants temporaires non qualifiés et peu qualifiés apportent également une contribution substantielle aux programmes d’étudiants internationaux et de vacanciers qui travaillent.

Introduction: In spite of the national target of achieving at least an 80% skilled delivery, skilled health providers attended to just 56.2% of deliveries in 2016 according to the Ghana Health Service annual report. The highest proportion of ANC registrants in the Akuapem South District in the Eastern Region of Ghana who sought skilled attendance at birth for the past 3 years has been about 36% as recorded in 2017. The fundamental factors responsible for this low skilled delivery in the district are poorly understood. The aim of this study, however, was to explore the factors that contribute to the uptake of skilled delivery in the Akuapem South District. Methodology: This cross-sectional study involved 371 women in the reproductive ages (15 - 49 years) who had delivered within the last 12 months preceding January 2019, and have been residents in the research communities during the period of pregnancy. A convenient sampling technique was used to select all 371 respondents from 15 communities. Structured questionnaires were used for the interviews by trained staff. Results: The prevalence of skilled delivery among respondents in this district as revealed by this study was 65.77% despite the 97.04% reported ANC attendance for at least once. Significant influencers of the uptake of skilled delivery were; maternal age, mother and partner’s educational level, partner’s occupation, the attitude of health staff/midwives, distance to the nearest health facility, transportation fare, and availability of medical equipment in the nearest health facility. Conclusion: Even though the overall ANC attendance was high, including women who made more than three visits, uptake of supervised delivery is a major challenge. There is, therefore, the need for the Akuapem South District Health Directorate to fully strengthen the adopted WHO’s goal that focuses on ANC at the individual facility levels.

This paper examines the major changes to the face of poverty in Great Britain over the past few decades, assessing the role of policy, and compares and contrasts this with the patterns seen in the United States, using harmonised household survey data. There are various commonalities between the countries, including a shift in the composition of those in poverty towards working‐age households without children, who have not been the focus of policy attention. There are also big differences, with a steadily increasing share of poverty in Great Britain – but a stable share in the United States – found in households with an adult in paid work. This perhaps explains why the anti‐poverty focus in Great Britain is now squarely on the plight of working households, while in the United States it is focused on labour force participation among the low skilled – even though, as we show, the United States has, for decades, been accustomed to in‐work poverty comprising a significantly higher proportion of overall poverty than in Great Britain.

The author analyzes the effects of further training subsidies for low-skilled employees on individual labor market outcomes in Germany. Using detailed administrative data, the author exploits cross-regional variation in the policy styles of local employment agencies to identify causal effects of program participation. Findings show that training subsidies significantly increase cumulative employment duration and earnings in the short run and middle run for compliers, that is, those workers who additionally participate due to a more generous policy style in their agency. These gains are particularly pronounced for certain subgroups, such as women. A rough cost-benefit analysis, however, suggests that the program overall is not beneficial for the public budget.

This research aims to describes the process of problem solving question of PISA in students. This research use a qualitative of research methods. The subject of this research grade VIII A SMP Negeri 1 Teras amounted to 28 students. Data collection techniques are used tests, interviews, and documentation method. In this research the validity of data using triangulation techniques to compare test results data, interviews, and documentation. Quantitative data analysis techniques using whereas reduction, serving until the conclusion of the withdrawal measures adapted to the Polya. The results of this research were obtained conclusions high-capable Students can meet all the indicators in the settlement of the question of maximum, medium and low skilled students not consistent in performing the stages of completion of a matter so that insufficient.

According to self-determination theory, employees' well-being is related to the autonomy-supportive style of a supervisor. However, the effect of supervision style on well-being remains understudied in low-skilled occupations. This study employed a mixed-method, multi-level approach to examine the impact of autonomy-supportive training (AST) on supervisors and employees and to identify factors contributing to the maintenance of supervisors' autonomy support (SAS). The quantitative phase evaluated the effect of AST on supervisory style and employees' well-being, with a sample of 44 supervisors and 240 employees in New Zealand. The qualitative phase used focus groups and interview with 15 supervisors to explore factors that could influence the maintenance of SAS. Overall, supervisors can be trained to adopt an autonomy-supportive style, but these skills can also be diluted by organisational factors such as pressures and managerial behaviour. This study contributes to autonomy-supportive style research in order to account for factors affecting the maintenance of SAS in low-skilled occupations.

This article reports on a study of occupational health and safety (OHS) challenges for temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in low- and high-skilled occupations, based on twenty-two cases drawn from a broader study in three Canadian provinces. Interviewees in construction, meat processing, hospitality, and fast food reported concerns regarding working conditions and OHS issues. They include precarious migration status affecting voice; contrasting access to social support; and mechanisms undermining regulatory effectiveness. Sources of vulnerability include closed work permits (making workers dependent on a single employer for job security and family reunification); ineffective means to ensure contractual compliance; and TFW invisibility attributable to their dispersal throughout the labor market. Violations include increased workload without an increase in pay and non-compliance with OHS and contractual rules without oversight. Positive and negative practices are discussed. Recommendations include improving migration security to preserve worker voice and facilitating communication between immigration and OHS authorities.

The economic progress of US men has stagnated in recent decades. The labor force participation rate of men ages 25–54 peaked in the mid-1960s and has declined since then (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), while men’s real median earnings have been flat since the early 1970s. These population averages mask considerably larger declines in participation among less-educated and non-white men as well as substantial increases in wage inequality. In this paper, we seek to illuminate the broader context in which prime-age men are experiencing economic stagnation. We explore changes for prime-age men over time in education, mortality, morbidity, disability program receipt, family structure, and incarceration rates. We focus on prime-age men, namely those ages 25–54, and on the years 1980–2016 (or 2017 when possible), encompassing much of the period of reduced economic progress for low-skilled men.

A new skills-based immigration system, with a preference for the highly-skilled, is central to UK policy debates in the Brexit context, arguably responding to majority public opinion on migration. Through qualitative fieldwork with British, Polish and Romanian citizens living in two local authorities in England, this paper shows what participants understand by ‘low-skilled’ and how there is broad support of those who ‘contribute’, but are ‘controlled’ at the same time. Migrants’ narratives of downskilling also illustrate why the category of ‘low-skilled’ migration needs to be seen through a more critical lens in research and policymaking.

In an era of free movement UK employers have had ready access to a supply of labour from the European Union to fill low-skilled jobs. This has enabled them to adopt business models, operating within broader supply chains, that take advantage of this source of labour and the flexibility that many migrant workers – especially those who are new arrivals to the UK – are prepared to offer them. Drawing mainly on evidence from employers on the role of migrant workers in selected sectors with a substantial proportion of low-skilled jobs, this article explores the challenges and opportunities they face in transitioning to a new post-Brexit immigration regime.

Employment concentration among low-skilled immigrants is a well-documented phenomenon in the U.S. labor market though its temporal and spatial patterns are less well examined. With Census microdata, the authors trace detailed occupational niches from 1990 to 2010 for all immigrants, as well as Asian and Latino immigrants separately, to understand how these niches have evolved over the past two decades. Using the Herfindahl−Hirschman Index measure, the authors further capture the geographic variation in relative occupational concentration across metropolitan statistical areas and test what metropolitan-level contexts and policies help explain such differences. The authors find that metropolitan areas with larger total and immigrant populations, greater human capital, higher residential mobility, and more diverse economies have expanded low-skilled immigrants’ occupational choices. Conversely, policies such as higher minimum wages and greater union membership may, in fact, increase occupational concentration, at least for some groups.

We estimate the minimum wage's effects on low-skilled workers' employment and income trajectories. Our approach exploits two dimensions of the data we analyze. First, we compare workers in states that were bound by recent increases in the federal minimum wage to workers in states that were not. Second, we use 12 months of baseline data to divide low-skilled workers into a "target" group, whose baseline wage rates were directly affected, and a "within-state control" group with slightly higher baseline wage rates. Over three subsequent years, we find that binding minimum wage increases had significant, negative effects on the employment and income growth of targeted workers. Lost income reflects contributions from employment declines, increased probabilities of working without pay (i.e., an "internship" effect), and lost wage growth associated with reductions in experience accumulation. Methodologically, we show that our approach identifies targeted workers more precisely than the demographic and industrial proxies used regularly in the literature. Additionally, because we identify targeted workers on a population-wide basis, our approach is relatively well suited for extrapolating to estimates of the minimum wage's effects on aggregate employment. Over the late 2000s, the average effective minimum wage rose by 30 percent across the United States. We estimate that these minimum wage increases reduced the national employment-to-population ratio by 0.7 percentage point.

This paper attempts to show how public opinion discursively legitimates the subordinate status that low-skilled temporary foreign workers are assigned in Canada. The author first shows how this status has been created through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and, more specifically, the Pilot Project for Occupations Requiring Lower Levels of Formal Training. In order to analyze public opinion, comments made online in reference to news outlet articles concerning low-skilled temporary foreign workers were located. Using a dual labor market theoretical framework a critical discourse analysis is performed on these comments, attempting to uncover how power and dominance are reproduced within them. The results of this analysis demonstrate how the discourse contained within public opinion helps to maintain the current status faced by this population.

This paper investigates the disruption to global supply chains caused by COVID-19 and how such disruptions will affect the participation of Chinese businesses in those chains. The focus is on the post-COVID-19 outlook for migrant workers working in the hospitality and garment industries. It is argued that managers within global supply chains will use accounting processes to maintain profitability by cutting costs. Moreover, within corporate supply chains, wages will be driven down in an increasingly competitive labour market, especially for low-skilled workers. The findings show that COVID-19 will have an adverse effect on wages and employment and raise performance expectations.

Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) has previously demonstrated promising effects in improving surgical performance with motor region stimulation [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] . However, extensive prior research has revealed an important role of the prefrontal cortex in surgical skill development [5 , 6] . This article presents the data of a double-blind randomized sham-controlled trial investigating the effect of prefrontal tDCS on knot-tying performance [7] . Data was collected from an active (n = 20) and sham (n = 20) group across three blocks: pre-, online- (during) and post-tDCS. Group and block differences of knot-tying performance were analyzed using a Generalized linear mixed model and supported with a Friedman's test. Further sub-analyses were conducted to compare high vs. low skilled individuals and initial vs. last knots. Subjective workload was assessed after each block using a SURG-TLX questionnaire and side-effects of the tDCS block were recorded using an additional survey.

International audience; Workers' propensity to migrate to another local labor market varies a lot by occupation. We use the model developed by Schmutz and Sidibé (2019) to quantify the impact of mobility costs and search frictions on this mobility gap. We estimate the model on a matched employer-employee panel dataset describing labor market transitions within and between the 30 largest French cities for two groups at both ends of the occupational spectrum and find that: (i) mobility costs are very comparable in the two groups, so they are three times higher for blue-collar workers relative to their respective expected income; (ii) Depending on employment status, spatial frictions are between 2 and 3 times higher for blue-collar workers; (iii) Moving subsidies have little (and possibly negative) impact on the mobility gap, contrary to policies targeting spatial frictions; (iv) Mobility-enhancing policies have almost no impact on the unemployment gap.

This is an action research study that summarizes one teacher’s journey in modifying a conventional soccer skill unit, using a visual feedback teaching aid, in improving soccer push pass technique among low-skilled Physical Education trainee teachers. This is an action research, aimed to improve the push pass technique among seven (7) low-skilled physical education core elective students in one of the teacher education institute in Malaysia. These seven students failed to demonstrate the minimal skill set for a push pass during a conventional class. Preliminary data showed that these students were weak at most of the 10 performance indicators for a push pass, and also scored low for accuracy of the kick. My college and I used a specially designed teaching aid LiLeBo that functions like a portable indoor golf green putting mat, to help students practice the push pass using the correct technique. Evaluation of the push pass is based on their execution (technique) and accuracy. Technique is measured based on teacher observation (based on 10 performance criteria) and accuracy on whether the ball reaches the goal. Students were evaluated based on 5 attempts with the push pass. Evaluation was carried out at the end of eight (8) weeks. Findings from this study showed a positive improvement in both technique and accuracy during the execution of a push pass. This study showed that visual feedback is important to learn correct technique for motor skills, especially among weaker adult students.

Defender el derecho de los menos competentes a recibir una educacion fisica de calidad no es una arbitrariedad ni un capricho, es un derecho, y es en este contexto donde deseamos ubicar a los protagonistas de este Monografico de la Revista RICYDE. Ya en 2006 habiamos llamado la atencion sobre la existencia de lo que denominabamos “ dificultad oculta ” y que hacia referencia a los problemas de baja competencia motriz existente en un sector del alumnado en las clases de educacion fisica (Gomez, Ruiz y Mata, 2006). Recientemente hemos vuelto a destacarlo (Ruiz, 2018) hasta llegar a este Monografico dedicado expresamente a destacar que a los alumnos y alumnas con baja competencia motriz se les debe dar mas protagonismo. La Educacion Fisica y sus docentes no puede mirar para otro lado mientras hay un sector de su alumnado que se queja y lamenta no ser considerados por sus profesores, no recibir el apoyo suficiente y como sus dificultades no son comprendidas, simplificandolo en que lo que manifiestan es un problema de motivacion. (...) https://doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2019.055ed Referencias/references Betts, M., & Underwood, G. L. (1992). The experience of three low motor ability pupils in infant physical education. The Bulletin of Physical Education , 28(3), 45-56. Cairney, J. (Ed.) (2015). Developmental Coordination Disorder and its consequences . Toronto: Toronto University Press. Cermak, S. A., & Larkin, D. (2002). Developmental Coordination Disorder . Australia: Delmar-Thompson Learning. Haubenstricker, J. L. (1982). Motor development in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 52 (5),41-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.1982.10629384 Henderson S. E.; Sugden D. A., & Barnett A. L. (2007). The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 . London, England: Pearson. (Adaptacion espanola coordinada por Ruiz, L. M. y Graupera, J. L. en 2011 como Bateria de Evaluacion del Movimiento para ninos-2. Madrid: Pearson Clinical & Talent Assessment Espana). Goodway J. D.; Crowe, H., & Ward, P. (2003). Effects of motor skill instruction on fundamental motor skill development. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 20 , 298-314. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.20.3.298 Gomez, M.; Ruiz, L. M., & Mata, E. (2006). Los problemas evolutivos de coordinacion en la adolescencia: analisis de una dificultad oculta. RICYDE. Revista Internacional de Ciencias del Deporte, 1 (3), 44-54. https://doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2006.00303 Orlick, T., & Botterill, C. (1975). Every kid can win . Chicago: Nelson Hall. Parker, H. E., & Larkin, D. (2003). Children´s co-ordination and developmental movement difficulties . En G. Savelsbergh, K. Davids, J. vand der Kamp, & S.J. Bennett (Eds.). Development of Movement Co-ordination in Children. Applications in the fields of Ergonomics, Health Science and Sport. (pp. 107-132). London: Routledge. Ramon, I., & Ruiz, L. M. (2015). Adolescence, motor coordination problems and competence. Revista Educacion XXi, 18 (2), 189-213. https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.14601 Revie, G., & Larkin, D. (1993). Task-specific intervention with children reduces movement problems. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 10 , 29-41. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.10.1.29 Ruiz, L. M. (1995). Competencia Motriz. Elementos para comprender el aprendizaje motor en Educacion Fisica . Madrid: Gymnos. Ruiz, L. M. (2000). Aprender a ser incompetente en educacion fisica: un enfoque psicosocial. Apunts de educacion fisica y deportes, 60 , 20-25. Ruiz, L. M. (2018). Low Competence and Developmental Motor Coordination Problems in Physical Education. RICYDE. Revista Internacional de Ciencias del Deporte, 16 (52), 97-100. https://doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2018.052ed Ruiz, L. M. (2018). Desarrollo motor, cerebro y neuroeducacion motriz en la infancia. En J. Munoz-Parreno, & N. Belando-Pedreno (Coords.). Neuroaccion. La neurociencia aplicada a las Ciencias de la Actividad Fisica y del Deporte. (pp.105-136). Vigo: MC Sports. Ruiz, L. M., & Palomo, M. (2018). Clumsiness and Motor Competence in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. En O. Bernard & N. Llevot (Eds.), Pedagogy. Volume 2 . IntechOpen, https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.70832 Ruiz, L. M.; Palomo, M.; Gomez, M. A., & Navia, J.A. (2018). When We Were Clumsy: Some Memories of Adults who were Low Skilled in Physical Education at School. Journal of Physical Education and Sports Management, 5 (1), 30-36. https://doi.org/10.15640/jpesm.v5n1a4 Walling, M. D., & Martinek, T. (1995). Learned helplessness: A case study of a middle school student. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 14 , 454-466. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.14.4.454

This study described the strategies used by expert teachers to instruct low motor skill students in physical education classes. The method was extensively pilot tested. Eleven physical education teachers took part in the study. Data were collected via observations, field notes, interviews, and nonstructured informal interviews. Two major themes emerged during the data analysis. First, specific teaching skills are important to facilitate low-skilled students’ success, with subthemes of (a) teachers paying attention to low-skilled students’ motor skill deficiencies and (b) teachers creating an accepting environment for low-skilled students. Second, teachers structure authentic performances in which low-skilled students can successfully participate, with subthemes of (a) teachers continually modifying game play with no scores, no winners, and everyone working together and (b) teachers recognizing decisions about equipment selection and usage for low-skilled students. The results can inform how teachers develop lessons for low-skilled students.Subscribe to TPE

Singapore is host to approximately 1.7 million transient migrants who either work or study in the city-state. While there has been extensive research on the conditions of low skilled or unskilled workers, little has been written about the experiences of the educated and middle class transnationally mobile workers and students and how they make a home for themselves in the city-state. Through in-depth interviews with 86 international students and educated transnationally mobile workers on their self-perceived identities, social networks, concepts of home, and media and communication use, this article looks at the strategies used by ‘foreign talent’ migrants to feel at home in Singapore. It is observed that while foreign talent migrants develop a combination of creative strategies in order to make Singapore ‘a home away from home’, being transient negatively affects their relationship with Singaporeans. The study also finds that while transient migrants develop close relationships with co-nationals as a strategy for transience, they also maintain/develop class structures while overseas. In other words, international students and white collar workers do not associate with co-nationals who are in low skilled or unskilled work. Drawing on the concept that transient migrants use their self-perceived identities to negotiate everyday life, this article argues that foreign talent migrants use their self-perceived identities to create emerging social and cultural spaces through their versions of reconstructions of home and by their (non)interactions with co-nationals and Singaporeans. In doing so, this article specifically moves away from the literature on time and temporalities which situates the temporary migrant as facing challenges overseas due to the break in their expected life course and connections to home, highlighting instead that transient migrants see their temporality not as a disruption bur rather part of their evolving life course.

This article explores knowledge transfers in international migration and development through insights from Pacific Island seasonal workers participating in Australia's Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). We discuss actual and potential horticultural knowledge transfers that are enabled when circular migrants are engaged in agriculture in their place of migration origin and destination. Transfers identified by seasonal workers themselves include: technologies to improve horticultural production, exposure to different crop types, and techniques to improve crop yields. We argue that SWP migrants should be reframed as knowledge holders (not ‘unskilled’ or ‘low-skilled’ labourers), and reflect on how knowledge transfers can be better supported to enable benefits for communities of origin and destination.

This paper investigates whether the increasing “residual wage inequality” trend is related to manufacturing decline and the influx of low-skilled immigrants. There is a vast literature arguing that technological change, international trade, and institutional factors have played a significant role in the inequality trend. However, most of the trend is unexplained by observable factors. This paper attempts to “explain” the growth in the unexplained variance of wages by exploiting variation across locations (states or cities) in the United States in the local level of “residual inequality.” The evidence shows that a shrinking manufacturing sector increases inequality. In addition, an influx of low-skilled immigrants increases inequality, but this effect is concentrated in areas with a steeper manufacturing decline. Similar results are found for two alternative measures linked to increasing inequality: the increasing return to education and the decline in the employment rate of non-college men. The overall evidence suggests that the manufacturing and immigration trends have hollowed-out the overall demand for middle-skilled workers in all sectors, while increasing the supply of workers in lower skilled jobs. Both phenomena are producing downward pressure on the relative wages of workers at the low end of the income distribution.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to estimate the causal effect of minimum wages on the employment of low-skilled workers in less developed regions of China.Design/methodology/approachBased on data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a double-difference (DD) methodology is used to compare the employment of low-skilled individuals before and after a minimum wage increase in their provinces with a comparison group of individuals in provinces that did not have a minimum wage increase. Also, a triple-difference methodology (DDD) is used that also includes an additional control group of highly educated workers as a within-province internal comparison group that should not be affected by a minimum wage increase.FindingsNo evidence of an adverse employment effect is found in any of the 36 different estimates, consistent with recent US evidence that uses a similar DD methodology.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are not national representative; rather heavily weighted towards the less developed Central, Western and parts of the Eastern Regions of China. This may partially explain the absence of the theoretically expected adverse employment effect. Other related reasons are discussed, including: lack of enforcement in those less developed regions; a large presence of state-owned enterprises in the regions where employment security clause remains intact; the relatively less developed labour markets in the regions including where employers may behave in a monopsony fashion in their labour markets; shock effects; and cost offsets from reduced fringe benefits and increases in the pace of work. This paper was unable to disentangle the separate effect of these possible factors.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies on minimum wages in China to focus on low-skilled workers in less developed regions, to use individuals as the unit of observation rather than aggregates, and to provide causal estimates based on DD and DDD methodologies.

This paper studies the labor market returns to quality of higher education for low-skilled students. Using a regression discontinuity design, we compare students who marginally pass and marginally fail the French high school exit exam from the first attempt. Threshold crossing leads to an improvement in the quality, but has no effect on the quantity, of higher education pursued. Specifically, students who marginally pass are more likely to enroll in STEM majors and universities with better peers. Further, marginally passing increases earnings by 13.6 percent at the age of 27 to 29. Our findings show that low-skilled students experience large gains from having the opportunity to access higher quality postsecondary education.

This paper examines the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) and offshoring on the skill demand in Japanese manufacturing. One of the contributions of this paper is that we focus explicitly on the demand for low-wage part-time workers, which we call low skilled workers. Estimating a system of variable factor demands for the period 1980–2011, we find that industries with higher ICT stock shifted demand from middle-low to middle-high and low skilled workers. Offshoring is associated with the increasing demand for high skilled workers but it has insignificant effects on the demand for middle-high, middle-low, and low skilled workers. The results together suggest that the increasing demand for low-wage part-time workers can be attributable to ICT in Japan.

The article investigates how institutional arrangements at the organizational and sectoral level affect the likelihood and size of employer investments in continuing training for low‐skilled workers in Germany. By building on comparative political economy and organizational theory, hypotheses are derived and tested. Regression analysis based on the IAB Establishment Survey (waves 2011 and 2013) shows evidence that the training participation of low‐skilled workers is related to institutional differences between sectors and organizations. At the organizational level, structures of employee representation and formalized [human resource] HR policies are positively associated with higher rates of training participation among low‐skilled workers. Moreover, there is evidence that low‐skilled workers benefit in organizational clusters that are characterized by structures of employee representation, formalized HR practices, and bargaining coverage. At the sectoral level, this study finds evidence that low‐skilled workers in the health care and manufacturing sector are more likely to receive continuing training.

In recent decades, many countries have witnessed the introduction of quasi-market regulation, predominantly in the field of personal services where social enterprises (SEs) and for-profit organizations (FPOs) increasingly compete. The goal of this article is to contribute to the SE and nonprofit literature by analyzing the influence of enterprises’ missions on the quality of low-skilled jobs and to the public policy literature by assessing job quality in quasi-markets. Specifically, we investigate job quality in FPOs and two types of SEs distinguished by their missions (work-integration social enterprises and home care services organizations). This analysis is based on a set of indicators developed to capture job quality and data collected through a questionnaire submitted to 600 workers from 47 enterprises. The results indicate that the distinction between FPOs and SEs does not explain all the differences in job quality across firms: Enterprises’ missions also matter.

This paper investigates the effects of offshoring on individual job satisfaction and perceived risk of job loss. The authors merge microdata from the German Socio-economic Panel dataset (SOEP) with indicators of insertion in global value chains at the industry level for the period 2000–2013. They test two hypotheses. First, the authors investigate whether workers in industries with higher offshoring intensity report lower job satisfaction and/or are more prone to be unsecure at their jobs. Second, they test whether these effects differ among four categories of collars. Their findings indicate that offshoring is associated with lower job satisfaction. The results are also indicative of some heterogeneity in the offshoring effect, with high skilled white-collar workers being mostly unaffected by offshoring and low skilled blue-collar workers showing the largest negative effects. Discriminating between manufacturing and services activities, the authors find that the extent of heterogeneity and the offshoring effect is relatively larger in manufacturing industries. They also find that the effect of offshoring intensity upon job satisfaction is more negative and significant in periods of economic decline. Finally, the results show that offshoring is not significantly related with job insecurity, a result that applies to all workers’ categories. Still, in a period of economic decline job insecurity may increase when the offshoring intensity rises., R&D Program in Social Sciences and Humanities by the Autonomous Community of Madrid, OPINBI project H2019/HUM-5793, Junta de Andalucia, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y universidades (Spain) PGC2018-093506-B-I00

Claims that low-skilled young people, and especially the men among them, are being excluded from the labour market have been influential over recent decades, contributing to an increasing concern over the issue of early school leaving. In this study, we use high-quality administrative data and sequence analysis to investigate the school-to-work trajectories of three birth cohorts of early school leavers in Norway between the ages of 16 and 26. Our observation period (from 1994 to 2015) covers several structural transformations of the Norwegian economy, such as increased migration, labour market polarisation and automatisation, widely held to have worsened the prospects of low-skilled young people. In accordance with expectations, we find some signs of increased labour market exclusion among early school leavers, relating to changes in welfare policy. However, the majority still follow trajectories characterised by employment and/or further education. Contrary to discourses on low-skilled men as losers, but in accordance with previous research, we find that male early school leavers consistently predominate in trajectories leading to middle and high incomes. Even in the comparatively gender equal country of Norway, the gender-segregated labour market consistently appears to be providing low-skilled men with more economically rewarding life course trajectories. publishedVersion

This article investigates the role of ‘voice’, technology, innovation (of products, services, or processes) and labor shortages in the training participation of low skilled workers in German companies. By building on the key findings of previous research, hypotheses on drivers of training participation are derived from filter theory and the concept of social embeddedness. Regression and cluster analysis based on the German IAB Establishment Panel (wave 2011) show evidence that training participation is shaped by ‘voice’‐related institutional company characteristics such as employee representation or formalized HR practices. Both characteristics often cluster together. Regression analyses confirm that companies in this cluster train a higher share of their low‐skilled workforce. The share is particularly high when companies in this cluster face labor shortages. Apart from that, advanced technology and recent innovations at the company level are not related to higher rates of training participation among low skilled workers.

In a country like Lebanon, where the participation rate of women in the labor force is low, around 24 % in 2014 [1], women social entrepreneurs try to alleviate this problem by targeting Low-skilled women. Our exploratory study aims to identify the motivations of six women social entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs perceive that low-skilled women need to be reintegrated into society and suffer from gender discrimination at hiring in Lebanon. They also have personal experience that has sparked their interest in the employment of low-skilled women. Interactions with marginalized women and gender discrimination lived throughout their personal and professional lives are also considered as important motivators. Finally, women social entrepreneurs point out that working for the professional integration of low-skilled women gives them personal satisfaction while taking a limited risk. Our qualitative exploratory study was supplemented by a quantitative study among fifty-seven low-skilled women to ascertain the motivations of the women social entrepreneurs who employ them. The results seem to confirm the majority of motivations reported by social women entrepreneurs especially in term of personal satisfaction.

From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the United States experienced an epochal wave of low-skilled immigration. Since the Great Recession, however, U.S. borders have become a far less active place when it comes to the net arrival of foreign workers. The number of undocumented immigrants has declined in absolute terms, while the overall population of low-skilled, foreign-born workers has remained stable. We examine how the scale and composition of low-skilled immigration in the United States have evolved over time, and how relative income growth and demographic shifts in the Western Hemisphere have contributed to the recent immigration slowdown. Because major source countries for U.S. immigration are now seeing and will continue to see weak growth of the labor supply relative to the United States, future immigration rates of young, low-skilled workers appear unlikely to rebound, whether or not U.S. immigration policies tighten further.

What are the welfare effects of immigration on low-skilled and high-skilled natives? To address this question, we develop a general equilibrium model featuring two skill types, search frictions, wage bargaining, and a welfare state that redistributes income through unemployment benefits and the provision of public goods. Our quantitative analysis suggests that, in all 20 countries studied, immigration attenuates the effects of search frictions. The resulting gains tend to outweigh the welfare costs of redistribution. Immigration has increased native welfare in almost all countries. In two-thirds of countries, both high- and low-skilled natives have benefited from the presence of immigrants, contrary to what models without search frictions or redistribution predict. Average total welfare gains from migration are 1.25% and 1.00% for high- and low-skilled natives, respectively. (JEL: F22, J61, J64)