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Despite the massive incorporation of women into the labor market, equal pay for equal work remains a challenge. This article analyzes the influence of gender diversity in management positions on the gender wage gap (GWG) throughout the entire pay scale in Spain. The results show the existence of a GWG, particularly for wages below the average; though it decreases when female participation in management is higher. This is in line with the reduction of information asymmetry problems considered in statistical discrimination theories, which explain the barriers to promotion associated with dynamics at entry-level and low-qualified positions. JEL CLASSIFICATION: C31, J31, J71, M14 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging presents a key challenge, and the care sector is an emergent and strategic field, with considerable potential for job creation in response to rapidly growing social demands. As this sector expands, it necessitates a change in the model, which must be supported by community services. Here, the social economy has an opportunity for development. Traditionally, jobs in the care sector have typically involved outsourcing family care and have been characterized by low social value, job insecurity, and limited career prospects, which reduces the sector's attractiveness. In Asturias, the sector comprises highly feminized companies, where women confront both the constraints inherent in the sector, including its location in rural areas, and the typical gender disparities. The purpose of this study is to examine the position of social economy firms and entities in Asturias that offer care-related services from a global perspective enhanced by a gender viewpoint. To do this, a mixed, quantitative methodology is used, which characterizes the participation of Social Economy's companies in the services sector in the region, and a qualitative analysis through in-depth interviews and discussion groups were conducted with associations representing both care demand and supply, as well as experts in social services and innovation. The analysis results indicate that women play a crucial role in transitioning to the community model, and promoting actions is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse the impact of gender equality in managerial positions on wages and the gender wage gap in 22 European countries. We draw on the employer–employee microdata from the European Structure of Earnings Survey (E-SES) for the year 2018, which allows us to include firm fixed effects in our econometric specifications, thus controlling for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity at the firm level. The analysis is carried out not only at the mean but also across the wage distribution through unconditional quantile regressions. The results on the impact of gender equality in management on wages are mixed. However, we find that gender equality has a predominantly positive effect in the upper part of the wage distribution, and a negative effect in the middle and lower parts. The results on the impact on the gender wage gap show that in many cases, a more gender-equal management reduces the gender wage gap. Furthermore, gender equality in management reduces the gender wage gap mainly in the middle and lower part of the wage distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ager: Journal of Depopulation & Rural Development Studies / Revista de Estudios sobre Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural is the property of Rolde de Estudios Aragoneses and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Estudios Cooperativos is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Regional cohesion has been one of the European Union's objectives since its origins. Its strategies and implementations have been modified over time, adjusting to the incorporation of new members and to different economic cycles. To gain more knowledge about the impact of cohesion policies, we use the Lisbon Regional Index, a synthetic indicator that brings together the global objectives of the Lisbon Strategy, that includes simple indicators of employment, training and research, development and innovation expenditures of the regions. The evolution of this Index over time gives the possibility of dynamic analysis and enables comparing the values of synthetic index for all the years of the considered period. Thereby, the development and cohesion on the Spanish regions can be evaluated, and it is verified how cohesion has improved in Spain in the expansive period (2000-2007) and how the Great Crisis has caused a regression of cohesion, affecting to a greater extent the regions "in transition" and "less developed", reaching levels prior to 2000. The next period (2014-2019) shows important signs of positive trend recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Estudios Cooperativos is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The strategies for integrating people with disabilities into the labor market have evolved toward a social approach, in which the objective is the integration with stable and decent jobs. This article analyzes how persons with disabilities enter the ordinary labor market by studying the factors that strengthen stability in that process. In particular, it analyzes the incentives to hire workers by means of Social Security contribution deductions, a wage cost-reducing measure, and studies whether or not reduced contributions affects the hiring of people with disabilities in stable positions, thus promoting the possibility of decent and stable jobs. We focus on people with disabilities entering the job market for the first time during the period 2004 to 2011, using the Continuous Sample of Working Histories Database for Spain and using as a control group people without disabilities. The results obtained show that reduced social security contributions constitute an incentive that effectively encourages the entry of workers with a disability into the labor market by means of stable employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite policy initiatives aimed at promoting female access to jobs, the information and communication technology (ICT) professions have traditionally been largely monopolised by men. Segregation, gendered stereotypes and environmental factors have a clear impact on educational and professional choices, as well as on working conditions. The spread of ICT to all economic activities has meant that ICT specialists are now to be found everywhere, not only in the ICT sector where many stereotypes related to technical jobs persist. This work aims to analyse the gender wage gap and discrimination in ICT professions, with the emphasis on how working in an ICT‐intensive industry might affect that situation. The study uses the Spanish Earning Structure Survey data for 2014, and applies wage decomposition techniques to the wage distribution. The results show that female ICT professionals face unfavorable working conditions, especially in highly qualified jobs and in ICT‐intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La integración efectiva de las personas con discapacidad en la sociedad pasa por su incorporación en el mercado laboral. Más allá de las ventajas y desventajas de las diferentes políticas laborales, es importante profundizar en el estudio de los factores que favorecen su integración, especialmente en el mercado laboral ordinario. La Economía social se caracteriza por una serie de principios diferenciales, entre los que cabe destacar la valorización del ser humano y la generación de valor social por encima de los resultados económicos o financieros. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar la contribución de la Economía social a la cohesión social en términos del empleo de trabajadores/as con discapacidad, y en particular, el cumplimiento de la cuota de reserva y, detectar tanto los elementos facilitadores como los principales obstáculos encontrados sobre los que trabajar en el diseño de políticas laborales para una mejor y mayor incorporación del colectivo. Para ello, se ha realizado una encuesta ad-hoc dirigida a empresas y entidades de la Economía social. Los resultados muestran que las entidades de la Economía social cumplen en su mayoría con la cuota de reserva, siendo este cumplimiento el principal facilitador de la integración de personas con discapacidad en sus plantillas, junto con la existencia de ayudas y/o desgravaciones fiscales. La mayoría de las entidades no encuentran dificultades en la integración del colectivo, aunque sí reconocen tener que enfrentarse a dificultades relacionadas con la adaptación de la persona al puesto y al entorno. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing presence of women on the Spanish labour market in the last few decades has revealed gender inequalities that affect both participation indicators such the activity or unemployment rate, and working conditions (working hours, contract duration, salaries, etc.). There are also inequalities in self-employment. This research identifies and tests the existence of different personal and occupational characteristics, including previous occupation in the entrepreneurial sector and elsewhere, of self-employed individuals in Spain. The results show that there are characteristics that distinguish self-employed entrepreneurship from the perspective of gender, such as level of education, instability in working history, the sector concerned and cumulative experience in that sector. This enables us to identify specific profiles for men and women, and highlights the convenience of designing activities differentiated by gender for promoting entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the political, economic and social value of the social economy, it is essential to arrive at a correct measurement of its impact on society as a whole. The contribution made by the intrinsic values that differentiate the social economy surpasses the economic sphere and enters into that of social utility, associated with the guiding principles of these companies. This paper offers a quantitative measurement and monetary valuation of the differentiating effects of social economy enterprises, making it possible to estimate the impact of their activity on social cohesion in Spain. The results indicate that the total benefits these enterprises contributed to social cohesion in 2009 exceeded 3400 million euros. The main beneficiaries were their own workforce, who received 2260 million euros annually in net wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is considered to be one of the main factors of development, economic growth and social progress. No country can achieve sustainable economic development without substantial investment in human capital. In Spain, school failure represents one of the main problems in the educational system, with potentially dramatic consequences for the basic competences required in the labour market and job instability, with the risk of economic and social exclusion. In this paper, we aim to identify the factors that define the risk of school failure in Madrid (Spain) by applying logit models. In this process we use a definition of school failure risk which relates to the probability of scoring below level 2 in the evaluation of competences (diagnostic assessment), and we use grade retention as a proxy of school failure. The variables included in the model cover several areas, such as personal, family and school characteristics. The results show that it is important that the policies to strengthen the educational system begin with early childhood education, as educational delay symptoms are detected, and it is necessary to intensify efforts towards personalized assistance to help identify potential learning problems, especially in those groups in the worst socioeconomic situations, which are most at risk of school failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement in women's labor conditions and the elimination of segregation and other forms of direct or indirect discrimination have become one of the major challenges of the international political agenda, and as so have been included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched by the UN in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, there is an increasing interest in the effects that the Social Economy (SE) might have on the achievement of the SDGs, as a consequence of its distinguishing of people-oriented principles. The goal of this paper is to analyze the specific contribution of SE entities to the reduction of gender inequalities in the labor market. We conduct an impact analysis with quasi-experimental counterfactual techniques, in which we compare one experimental group (the SE) with a control group (profit-seeking firms) using labor data from Spain for the period 2008–2017. The results indicate that social economy entities significantly contribute to the achievement of SDGs 5, 8 and 10, showing higher female participation, more stable jobs, and a lower degree of the glass-ceiling phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small family-owned companies are the most common type of European business structure and are characterised by their orientation to long-term goals. Therefore, they can play an important role in the launching of businesses related to sustainable growth. However, access to finance is difficult for start-ups. Mutual Guarantee Institutions (MGIs) mitigate this problem by facilitating long-term guaranteed loans, but they must assume responsibility for default losses. This paper analyses, as of the end of 2018, the loan default of the portfolio of guarantees formalised by Spanish MGIs with new companies between 2003 and 2012, a period including both economic growth and recession. The objective is to identify the annual evolution and the average global cost of default, as well as the differences in said portfolios according to the purpose of the loan, company size and economic activity. The analysis was developed while considering two scenarios: one determinist, using a ratio method and another stochastic, using an analysis of variance. We found differences in the distribution of defaults for the variables company size and sector of activity. The findings provide relevant information for managers and Public Administrations to improve the distribution of guarantees between Spanish MGIs and public institutions, and their coverage of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) loan defaults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, fishing sustainability has been subject to intense international debate. Overfishing and contamination of the marine environment are elements that contribute to a reduction in fish stock and catches, often leading to declining income and employment, especially in rural areas. We present a sustainable fisheries model that promotes artisanal fishing while incorporating replacement rates of fish stock and actions that benefit the fishing industry. First, the sustainable fisheries model defines the guidelines and actions that may apply either together or independently, sequentially, or simultaneously, according to a defined budget. These concrete actions are quantified and incorporated into an environmentally extended input-output model to evaluate the economic impact on the Spanish fishing industry. The impact is complemented with an assessment of social impact (employment) and environmental impact (estimated reduction of CO2 emissions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperatives and worker-owned companies, as representatives of the Social Economy, prioritize people over capital. This prioritization is reflected in more equitable and inclusive workforces. Comparative analyses of these types of enterprises compared to commercial enterprises show smaller gender gaps, both in employment participation and in working conditions. The purpose of this paper is to determine the probability of access to positions of greater responsibility in these enterprises and to see whether women have a greater probability of access in these social economy enterprises than in commercial enterprises, concluding that they face fewer obstacles and that the glass ceiling is more fragile. Based on a decade-long analysis of labor trajectories and social security registration data, estimates indicate that female employees in cooperatives and worker-owned companies have a higher probability of reaching the highest contribution group than men. During the analyzed period, these companies have prioritized the integration of women into decision-making roles and have not faced a glass ceiling. This trend is particularly evident among workers aged over 30. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a wide consensus regarding the importance of social and economic transformations that new technologies, especially Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), have had in the last decades. ICT companies show an extraordinary capacity to offer new solutions to emerging and unsatisfied needs. Their social and economic impact is unquestionable in relation to their contribution to economic growth and they are also essential elements in the transfer of technology from national innovation systems to markets and society in general. In this context, we can understand the interest Social Economy firms have in increasing their presence within emerging technology-based activities. This presence will contribute to strengthening the Social Economy (SE) sector in several aspects: increasing its growth rates in the medium and long term; improving its relative contribution to regional and national macro-economic indicators; incorporating new profiles of workers and companies; and improving working conditions in the sector. Objectives The objective of this paper is to assess the current position of SE companies in technology-based sectors and, more specifically, technology-based entrepreneurship (TBE) in the SE. In addition, it aims to delve into the different elements that condition this position, with the ultimate goal of identifying the areas of progress to improve its position in the TBE sector. Methodologic approach In order to achieve the goal, we chose to undertake qualitative research of a phenomenological nature (Golafshani, 2003), using in-depth interviews with a sample of actors within the main groups involved in technology-based entrepreneurship and in the SE. The following profiles were selected: • Business and tecnological entrepreneurship advisory agents (chambers of commerce, business incubators, spin-offs); • support structures of the SE, as representative entities and specialists, aware of the reality of the sector and its presence and position in technological sectors; • technology-based companies and entrepreneurs, as the main players and experts with their firsthand experience in these types of business initiatives; • venture capital funds, as the main investors and financial agents in these types of companies at their growth and expansion stages. Finally, twenty-two entities and individuals were selected for the interviews, which were carried out in November and December 2015 and had an approximate average duration of one hour each. The selected methodological approach was developed through in-depth interviews (Taylor and Bogdan, 1992). This information collection technique is ideal for the proposed objectives as they allow access to information in a direct and structured way and, at the same time, facilitate the creation of analytical processes. Results The results obtained from the content analysis of the interviews are grouped into three categories: 1. The importance of technology-based entrepreneurship in the Social Economy Emerging technology-based activities have a strategic role for the whole economy and, in particular, for the SE sector. First, these activities allow for a greater sectorial and geographical diversification. Second, technology-based activities are found in sectors with high and continuous growth in addition to high added value, thus strengthening firms. These activities also favor the incorporation of new worker profiles (younger and highly qualified), which are associated with stable jobs and high remuneration, that lead to an improvement in the average working conditions of the SE. 2. Differential elements of technology-based entrepreneurship The characterization of technology-based entrepreneurship allows the differential elements of this type of entrepreneurship to be known. As such, it is possible to identifying those characteristics that pose particular difficulties for the SE entities due to their identifying elements. For example, TBE are companies in which cooperation, the creation of networks and the generation of synergies with other companies and agents (from their own sector or from others) are key elements. They usually have an ongoing relationship with universities, research centers and technology centers. In addition, these firms tend to develop in different activity branches with high technological content and increased tendency to innovate. These companies usually present a very long maturity phase for their products, with high and rapid growth in their consolidation phases. They also have specific financial needs (seed capital and public aid during the initial phase, and venture capital in later phases). The advice received by these companies is usually focused on the development of the business model and the choice of the legal form for the firm is secondary. Therefore, they do not search for the advantages of the SE legal form. 3. Strategic areas to improve the situation of the Social Economy in technological -based activities or sectors. Strategic initiatives are grouped around four specific points: improving the visibility of the SE, in particular, aimed at potential entrepreneurs and universities, research centers and technology centers, where technology-based initiatives arise; bringing the SE closer to new entrepreneurship and BTE profiles, increasingly similar to the concept of social enterprise (with more democratic and participative models in addition to a concern for a greater " social return"); counselling and support in the initial stages of BTE, in business and legal training; and support in mature and consolidation phases, especially in two areas, financial and network services. Conclusions Beyond the core ICT activities analysed in this paper, it is worth asking what role the Spanish Social Economy can play in the development of emerging sectors. Most of them are the result of the merger between ICTs and different activities, which of their own elements can offer them an advantage and what challenges they will need to face in order to take advantage of their potential. Firstly, the Spanish Social Economy presents a series of characteristics that give it an advantage in the anticipated development of new activities. One of these elements is the strong productive specialization that the SE and non-profit entities have in many of the emerging activities. The SE companies (including associations, foundations and other non-profit entities) represent 8.9% of the total number of Spanish companies (DIRCE, 2017). However, in activities related to care services, their presence is particularly high: 50% of social service companies without accommodation and 37.1% of services in residential establishments. Their presence is also very significant in cultural activities (46.8%), in sports and recreational activities (28.0%) and partly within green economy activities. A second element that provides the SE with an advantage is that social and organizational innovation, two of the key processes in the new scenario, are identifying elements of the SE. Social innovation is related to inclusive growth, a cross-cutting element in the development of many SE entities for decades (insertion companies, sheltered employment centers, social initiative cooperatives ...). Organizational innovation, based on the Oslo Manual, entails for example, the introduction of new business practices, new methods for a better distribution of responsibilities and decision-making. These are core elements of SE entities. In fact, the SE organization models could accommodate the preferences of current workers, who demand more participatory, more horizontal, more inclusive and more flexible work organization models. These environments are also more suitable for the development of social innovation initiatives. Finally, another element of the SE is its economic and social contribution recognized at a political, social and empirical level. At a political level, the mission of SE companies is completely aligned with the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the EU Agenda for growth and employment. However, their potential advantage as indicated in previous paragraphs may be hindered by not assuming certain challenges. One of these is the progress towards a greater digitization of the sector, which must consider the entire value chain (from the provision of services to the continuous relationship with the user). The risk of not addressing the digitalization process in a decisive way may be to lose the current leadership position that it has in several sectors (education, health services, social services, agri-food, etc.). A second challenge focuses on the field of prospecting new products and solutions, also in accordance with social innovation. One of the strategic lines of the sector could be to address prospecting and experimentation systems for new products and solutions using digitization. A strategic foresight center and the development of new tools, such as "living labs", could play a catalytic role in the incorporation of social innovation into the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]