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We examine how firms adjust their labor demand to immigration policy changes resulting from intensified interior immigration enforcement. Using the temporal and geographic variation in the adoption of such policies as a source of identification, we find that firms boost their demand for low-skilled foreign-born labor under the H-2B visa program as enforcement intensifies. Furthermore, firms' increased demand for guest workers is inversely related to natives' employment in occupations where most H-2B workers are hired; however, it does not seem to alter natives' wages or work hours, nor does it seem to redistribute native labor away from those occupations.

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.

Platform-based work and corresponding business models are redefining the work landscape. The rapid growth in digital platforms has prospered since the start of the pandemic, enabling various service-based gig work tasks such as Amazon, Uber and Deliveroo. Currently, there is scant literature that examines the well-being of gig workers in the platform economy. In this article, we reflect on the well-being of one category of gig workers, low-skilled service-based gig workers. These workers are often migrants or transient workers who face barriers to enter the job market in a foreign country, need a job to generate an income for the family, often transition between jobs or wish to conduct flexible, temporary gigs afforded by many digital platforms. Informed by an overview of the literature and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) definition of well-being, our study supports the notion that precarity leads to compromised worker well-being. As a consequence, we identify four themes for gig worker well-being that can be incorporated in the design of platforms to improve the well-being of low-skilled service-based workers: (1) regulatory aspects and contracts to protect the worker, (2) job-related appraisal and reward systems, (3) feeling connected in a work-related social network and (4) algorithmic control and organization of tasks and work. Our study opens discourse on digital platform worker well-being, suggesting improvements to digital platform design to support worker well-being for service-based gig workers and potentially all forms of gig work.

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.

This study provides evidence that individual investors are better off by investing through mutual funds run by skilled fund managers, who not only deliver higher risk-adjusted returns in normal times, but also attain similar performance even during turbulent economic states, such as the 2007–2009 global financial crisis. Specifically, we show that, on average, fund managers with the highest skill (top 20%) added $6.877 million of value annually during the early crisis period and $4.065 million of value during the late crisis period, compared with $3.198 million gain realized during the entire sample period. Low-skill fund managers (bottom 20%), however, lost $0.844 million of value during the early crisis period and $5.323 million of value during the late crisis period. TOPICS:Performance measurement, manager selection, wealth management Key Findings • Active managed mutual funds with skilled managers can serve an important insurance and value generating function not only during normal times, but also in extreme economic downturns. • Funds run by skilled managers experienced significant capital inflows during both the early and late stages of the financial crisis, while their low skilled counterparts incurred significant capital outflows. • Fund management skill persists at least one year during the whole financial crisis period.

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.

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.

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.

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 chapter focuses on labor migration. An overview of countries’ “visa mix” reveals that countries today emphasize labor migration over family reunification and humanitarian entries. Distinctions are made between high-skilled migrants and low-skilled migrants; there is also a division between temporary and permanent labor migration. A closer look reveals that these definitions are highly contested. Explanations of states’ policy choices include a focus on labor market actors—corporations; sectoral employers organizations and labor unions, and their relative power; these explanations emphasize competition among different interests. On the other hand, some researchers look to cross-class coalitions of labor market actors as the source of policy. A third group of researchers focuses on the structure of labor markets, differentiating between liberal market economies and coordinated market economies. Finally, researchers also explore the role of public opinion in state policy choice. Labor migration raises both theoretical and ethical issues. The chapter points to new avenues of research as well as the exploitative nature of many labor market policies that also raise issues of discrimination against marginalized groups.

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.

We investigate the nexus between TV watching and the general public opinion about the impact of immigrants on the economies of destination countries using evidence from the European Social Survey. We find, as expected, that low skilled workers and less educated respondents have a more negative view, likely due to the stronger competition threat they suffer from immigrants. Second, and more surprising, time spent watching TV gives a strong and significant contribution to the negative opinions on the role of immigrants. Over-representation of negative events involving migrants and lack of migrants voice on TV are two likely rationales consistent with our findings.

Over 25 million people are victims of forced labor globally; the vast majority are low-skilled migrant workers who migrated from a different country or region. Evidence so far indicates that much of labor exploitation has roots in the recruitment process. This motivates the question of whether there are characteristics common to low-skilled labor recruitment that can serve as reliable indicators of forced labor risk in the workplace. Leveraging unique data sets from the Myanmar Government and the Issara Institute on weekly demand for Burmese migrant workers in Thailand by Thai companies, and on worker voice hot-line data from 2018-2020, we find that unexpected labor shortages in the workplace significantly increase migrant worker abuse. Using an Instrumental Variable (IV) approach, we find that an increase of one standard deviation in low-skilled labor shortages in the workplace leads to a 34.5% or higher increase in worker-reported labor abuse in the two to four weeks that follow. Shocks of such magnitude occur about 10% of the time. We also find a visible correlation between provinces whose labor markets are more stressed on average and the frequency of unexpected labor shortages in a province, suggesting that stressed labor markets are also more prone to unexpected shortages and abuse. Overall, this research suggests that inefficiencies in matching supply and demand for low-skilled labor play an important role in determining labor abuse outcomes, and that reducing these inefficiencies in the labor recruitment process could help mitigate labor abuse.

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 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.

In this article, we document some empirical facts about vocational training in India. First, we show that the education levels and vocational training of the Indian labour force are low and have not changed between 2004–2005 and 2011–2012. Then, we show that in wage employment, regular wage and salary earners and casual labour, the returns to skilling are low while the returns to general education are significant, even within the same occupation and industry category. Using the enterprise surveys from the NSS, we also document that self-employment, which is the outside option for most unskilled, semi-skilled and even skilled people, is very unproductive. We, thus, argue that the Indian labour market is stuck in an equilibrium where both the number of persons getting skilled and the returns to skilling are low. JEL: J240, O150

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 attempts to make an in-depth study of tourism, which would help in developing the course of tourism industry in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Tourism is considered as one sector that can propel growth, contribute foreign exchange, and provide employment that too to low skilled persons. One of the important dimensions of tourism is the cultural exchange among various nationalities and among the people of different states. As on one hand, tourism is seen as an economic option and on the other side the greater social and human effect. Jammu and Kashmir offers different types of tourism, which are highlighted in this paper, which type of tourism is most liked and is popular among tourists, is also presented in this paper for proper development of tourism industry in the state of Jammu and Kashmir Keywords: In-depth, Foreign exchange, community development, Harmony.

The government of Malaysia is, alas, not doing its level best to include migrant workers, let alone low-skilled women migrant workers (WMW) in its 2020-2021 COVID-19 policy response.First and forem...

The literature highlights that social enterprises (SEs) attract workers who are motivated to help others and to meet the social aims in which they believe. However, this assumption is challenged in...

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.

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

This interdisciplinary study combines insights from attachment theory, services research, and organizational management to investigate how a Chinese restaurant chain creates a strong service climate by satisfying emotional attachment needs of low-skilled employees. Employee attachment has been used extensively to predict employees’ attitudes and behaviors (Wang et al. 2018), which are important for service climate (Hong et al. 2013). Despite the importance of attachment to understand employees’ attitudes, behavior and positive service climate, the use of attachment theory in services research is still recent. Scholars identify the need to understand the antecedents of service climate (Bowen and Schneider 2014). Specifically, how employees bond with co-workers to align their personal goals with those of the organization (Tang et al. 2014), how these bonds relate to social stressors (such as those caused by supervisors or colleagues), and the impact on service climate. This understanding is relevant in the context of low-skilled Chinese workers moving from the countryside to the city, leaving their families behind, and facing adaptation difficulties, which in turn activates their attachment system.

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.

This paper studies the effect of the change in occupational structure on wages for low skilled men. We develop a model of occupational choice in which workers have multi-dimensional skills that are exploited differently across different occupations. We allow for a rich specification of technological change which has heterogenous effects on different occupations and different parts of the skill distribution. We estimate the model combining four datasets: (1) O*NET, to measure skill intensity across occupations, (2) NLSY79, to identify life-cycle supply effects, (3) CPS (ORG), to estimate the evolution of skill prices and occupations over time, and (4) NLSY97 to see how the gain to specific skills has changed. We find that while changes in the occupational structure have affected wages of low skilled workers, the effect is not dramatic. First, the wages in traditional blue collar occupations have not fallen substantially relative to other occupations-a fact that we can not reconcile with a competitive model. Second, our decompositions show that changes in occupations explain only a small part of the patterns in wage levels over our time period. Price changes within occupation are far more important. Third, while we see an increase in the payoff to interpersonal skills, manual skills still remain the most important skill type for low educated males.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) administrator periodically deals with big users number registering. Manual registering is monotonous but may not be assigned to low skilled staff, because such employees must have administrator’s rights. It entails possible LMS non-working condition, causes risk of strangers access and increases probability of e-learning courses author’s rights violation. Administrator’s dull work may be minimized, if to use data, entered at applicants enrollment in any files, prepared manually or exported from software applications. So, it’s necessary to develop the template, where to define formation order of significant information components about users, which must be registered; to develop software tool, which will read data from source files and will form text files, ready for import by LMS accordingly to template; to convert data using software tool and to import obtained files into LMS.

Using a 2004 survey done in New York City’s Chinese community, we explore the extent to which legal status affects immigrants’ labor market performance and health status. We focus on five issues related to legal status of immigrants: wages, weekly working hours, employment location, self-rated health, and health care utilization. Our results show that undocumented immigrants are more likely to work for exceptionally long hours and are less likely to see a doctor when they get sick. However, we also find that current legal status does not have a significant effect on current health status. This work contributes to a growing literature on how legal status is linked to labor market and health consequences.

In the contemporary world, many people find themselves confused and challenged by unpredictability of life paths, labour market instability and necessary revisions to vocational careers. They may be helped by professional support institutions. For some people, seeking professional help when facing a predicament is evidence of resourcefulness. Others, however, perceive a request for help as expressive of vulnerability and a lack of self-reliance in coping with life problems. In this article, we examine 15 interviews with low-skilled and low-educated people in Poland about their experiences with educational and vocational counselling as well as the relevance they attribute to past meetings with counsellors. Concluding, we formulate recommendations for Polish educational and vocational counselling.

The demand for adult education and training (AET) opportunities is substantial as older adults are remaining in the labor force at older ages, and are facing substantial technological changes in the workplace. Strategies to engage middle-aged and older adult workers in AET often exclude low-skilled and sub-populations. The engagement of these sub-populations in AET is challenging as access, awareness, and program costs associated with AET opportunities often target highly skilled populations. The inequality in AET participation warrants specific programs and strategies to address challenges low-skilled adult workers face in pursuing AET. The purpose of this study is to identify AET opportunities for low-skilled middle-aged and older adults, as well as highlight major barriers to engage and retain these sub-population in AET. Data were collected from 36 key informants through semi-structured interviews and through document reviews. Key informants represented Australia, Canada, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S. Descriptive methods were used to identify barriers in recruiting and retaining low-skilled middle-aged and older adults. We particularly focused on the barriers related to cost, language, access, and awareness. Results highlighted opportunities tailored to support adult workers in the pursuit of adult learning opportunities both domestically and internationally. Barriers including learning histories, lack of long-term person-centered support, as well as the role of multiple forms of learning, such as formal and informal learning, were identified. Last, we provide recommendations for recruiting and retaining middle-aged and older adult workers in AET programs.

Focusing attention on a movement effect that is farther away from the body (distal external focus) has been shown to result in more effective motor performance or learning than focusing on an effect that is in greater proximity to the body (proximal focus). The present study examined whether the distance of the external focus impacts the performance of relatively inexperienced and experienced performers differently. Low-skilled and high-skilled volleyball players passed a volleyball continuously to a target. In the proximal focus condition they were asked to concentrate on the "platform," whereas in the distal focus condition they were instructed to concentrate on the target. The high-skilled group's accuracy scores were higher in the distal relative to proximal focus condition. However, low-skilled players' accuracy scores was greater in the proximal relative to distal focus condition. We argue that the optimal distance of the external focus depends on the level of expertise when the skill requires a specific movement technique. An external focus on that technique seems to be more advantageous for low-skilled performers. In contrast, when the movement pattern has become more automatic (high-skilled performers), a focus on the overall movement effect is more beneficial.

Men working in the lowest skilled jobs had the highest rate of death involving covid-19 among working age people, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.1 However, healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, were not found to have statistically higher rates of death involving covid-19 when compared with the rate among those of the same age and sex in the general population. There were 2494 deaths involving covid-19 among 20 to 64 year olds registered up to 20 April 2020 in England and Wales. Nearly two thirds of these deaths were among men. Three quarters of the deaths (1852) recorded included information on occupation and so were included in the analysis. Men …

Matched employee-employer data from the UK are used to analyze the wage premium to working in an innovative firm. We find that firms that are more R&D intensive pay higher wages on average, and this is particularly true for workers in some low-skilled occupations. We propose a model in which a firm's innovativeness is reflected in the degree of complementarity between workers in low-skill and high-skilled occupations, and in which non-verifiable soft skills are an important determinant of the wages of workers in low-skilled occupations. The model yields additional predictions on training, tenure and outsourcing which we also find support for in data.

While there is a vast literature considering the labour market effects of immigration, less has been done to investigate how immigration affects the educational choices of young natives. Using Italian provincial data and an instrumental variables strategy, we show that the recent rise of low skilled immigrants has increased both the probability that young native high school graduates (males in the whole country and females in the industrialized North) enrol in or attain higher education and the probability that young natives (males and females) with less than high school education stay out of further education or training. We show that our results can be explained by a standard model of educational choices if some conditions are satisfied.

This chapter explores the recruitment of factory labor on a retail street in an urbanizing village. Industrialists send their recruiters to the street to carry out a recruitment process in which factories collaborate with village collectives but compete with each other. Gong examines the urban form of the village, the changing socioeconomic environment of factory job-seeking, and the details of the recruitment process to show that collaboration and contestation by the authorities ensure better recruitment outcomes. Gong argues that street recruitment of factory labor functions as a “filter” to include as many low-skilled migrants as possible yet exclude those whom industrialists regard as the unqualified.

Many developed and developing countries are experiencing large and growing levels of international migration of labor. However, the large majority of research on the economic impact of inflows of migrant workers on host economies focuses exclusively on developed countries. In this paper, we address this gap in the literature by examining migrant-induced productivity effects in the emerging economy of Malaysia. Importantly, the Malaysian case is typical for many Asian economies where, next to high skilled foreign workers, large numbers of migrants consist of low skilled workers that are employed in host economies on a temporary basis. Using detailed industry level data for the period 2005 to 2009, we find that both high skilled and low skilled foreign workers generate positive productivity effects in Malaysian manufacturing industries. Furthermore, our results identify a strong presence of industry heterogeneity, as the effects of foreign workers, in general, and low skilled foreign workers, in particular, are pronounced in labor and assembly intensive modern industries with a strong export focus. This indicates the importance of foreign workers for the contemporary international competitiveness of the Malaysian manufacturing sector. As such, our findings provide important new input to the debate on the role of low skilled foreign workers in processes of development of the Malaysian economy.

The main purpose of this study was to explore how low-skilled worker’s learning activity influences skill improvement. Using a unique 2007 Human Capital Corporate Panel data-set from the South Korean manufacturing industry, we operationalize skill improvement over time among low-skilled workers. A worker is classified as ‘low skilled’ if he or she has a low education level and poor technical skills. Regression models show that low-skilled workers’ informal learning positively influences their skill improvement. In contrast, we note that supervisors negatively influence skill improvement of low-skilled workers when measuring the change in technical skill proficiency. Quality circle programmes also have a positive influence on skill improvement. In conclusion, skills can be improved through planned interventions that increase collaboration on the job. The results from this study help to highlight the importance of designing learning interventions for low-skilled workers that take account of their underlying...

Using game in learning becomes one of the most successful approaches in learning nowadays, due to its effectiveness in learning. It is proved that students who learn from game performed better than traditional learning style. Letters web learning game for young over age student is a 2D learning web game, that is suitable for learn young student with low learning skills (over age students) English letters. It improves the student ability to recognize letters’ shapes, spelling, and writing in an exciting way. The game is implemented using PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and a Phaser library.

This article examines whether Australia's regulatory settings for temporary migrant labour are working effectively and argues that a backdoor currently exists which permits the entry of low skilled migrant workers on visas which are not for a work purpose, namely the international student visa and the working holiday maker visa. We propose that an explicit visa pathway be created for low and semi-skilled workers so that the working conditions of these visa holders are more appropriately monitored and to enable Australia's temporary labour migration program to better meet skill shortages in the economy.

We examine the impact of the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) on employment outcomes of low-skilled legal workers. We use the synthetic control method to select a group of states against which the labor market trends of Arizona can be compared. Our results suggest that contrary to its intent, LAWA does not appear to have improved labor market outcomes of legal low-skilled workers who compete with unauthorized immigrants, the target of the legislation. In fact, we find some evidence of diminished employment and increased unemployment among legal low-skilled workers in Arizona. These findings are concentrated on the largest demographic group of workers-non-Hispanic white men. While they are less likely to find employment, those who do have on average higher earnings as a result of LAWA. The pattern of results points to both labor supply and labor demand contractions due to LAWA, with labor supply dominating in terms of magnitude.

This article analyses online job advertisements to identify skills that are demanded in selected low- and medium-skilled occupations. We explore data from the publicly administered cross-European EURES job search portal and quantify the different cognitive and non-cognitive skills requested by employers in small European economies. While we find that the service sector demands non-cognitive skills more than other types of occupation, the skill-mix demanded is very diverse across countries, implying that other domestic factors shape how demand is formulated. Our work shows that online portals can become a useful source for studying employers’ demand at the micro-level to inform employment, education and training policies.