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Crop booms are a significant driver of change for both rural landscapes and smallholder livelihoods. Cavendish bananas have boomed in northern Laos and replaced maize, the previous boom crop, through land leasing contracts between farmers and Chinese companies. This study of two villages in Oudomxay Province explores rural households' participation in this banana boom and the conjunctures that shape variegated livelihood pathways and outcomes. Household participation in the banana boom depended on their assets (land and labour), livelihood context and social pressure. Household income in both villages generally improved, but differentially. The better‐off, and those with a wider array of livelihood options, used income from bananas to move to primarily non‐agricultural livelihoods, while many poorer households became dependent on wage labour in banana production, at the expense of their health. Women reported to be content to escape agricultural labour through land leasing; but many who contributed labour to banana production felt trapped in ongoing heavy labour, with attendant adverse impacts. These outcomes reflect how the conjunctures of different household, community and external elements, and crop boom‐bust cycles, lead to differentiated ('variegated') household livelihood trajectories and outcomes for households and for men and women, and suggest points of policy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptation of employees and employers to each other is very important for resolving many problems of labour economics and HR management. There are four types of response to discrepancy between opportunities and needs of labour relation entities: adjustment of workers to work-place requirements; changes in work-places on the part of employees; changes in work-places by employers necessary to comply with needs and qualification of workers; adaptation of employers to needs and qualities of workers. Adaptation of employers and employees to each other and changing work-places by them act, to a certain extent, as substitutes, which allow labour relation participants to interact effectively. Having faced restrictions by one of the four mentioned response to discrepancy between workers’ characteristics and work-places, the given participants turn to another response. The author using the experience of a university lecturer researches changes in work-place on the part of employees in the system of higher education. To analyze the potential of changing work-place characteristics the data of Risstat selective study was used. Factors showing specific features of adaptation of employees and employers to each other were identified and analyzed. Among them the author mentioned the situation on markets of finished products and labour, where the organization (employer) is involved, professional and personal qualities of worker, budget restrictions of labour relation entities, specific features of labour contracts and legislation.

This study seeks to gauge the extent to which temporary contracts function as stepping stones to permanent contracts and to distinguish intrafirm from interfirm contract conversions. Using 2012–2016 data from a Peruvian matched employer–employee database, the authors propose several measures of contract conversion and estimate duration models. Their findings show that only 7 per cent of fixed‐term contracts are converted and that about half of the conversions occur in the same firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relationship between employees' age and their individual productivity potential (IPP). IPP is measured by individual characteristics which are related to skills utilisation at work. Using PIAAC data for 27 European and non-European countries, we find that the oldest employees have a lower IPP score than the middle-aged employees in 17 of the 27 countries. It seems to be most demanding for the oldest workers to keep up with the IPP of younger workers in countries with high average skill loss for the oldest age group or high average skills level for all age groups (or both). The significant positive effects of formal education and the absence of significant effects of skills on the IPP score in many of the countries (the individual level), are easier to adapt to the human capital perspective on the importance of formal education than to the perspective of the signalling theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study intends to highlight critical or just unclear aspects of the directives of the Union, of the implementing national law and of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the protection of the rights of the employees in the case of transfer of undertakings, businesses or part of businesses. It is about the Directive 187/77 of the Council, the Directive 50/98 of the Council, which has amended the first, and the Directive 23/2001 of the Council, which is in force at the time being, the two former being repealed by it; these directives were implemented in Romania by the Law 67/2006 and the Labour Code (the Law 53/2003). The transfer of undertaking consists not only in the purchase or the lease of the business, or the merger of businesses, but also in the taking over, by a new provider of goods or services, of all or of the majority of the employees of the former provider of a client, if those employees constituted and continue to constitute a unitary group from an organizational and functional point of view, continue to carry on the same activity for the client, possibly in the same place and, if they are indispensable for the activity, with the same material means. The protection afforded to the employees consists in the automatic transfer of their contracts or of the content of these to the new employer, that is the acquirer of the undertaking whatever the form of the acquisition may be, as we saw above. The conclusions contain proposals de lege ferenda concerning both the directive in force and the implementing national law. So, regarding the directive we appreciate as being necessary the renaming of the transfer of undertaking in transfer of activity, the partial renaming of the cases of transfer and the suppression of some of the actual cases, the express defining of the protection as being only the transfer of the rights and obligations from the labour contracts or relationships or at least the renouncement to the automatic character of the transfer of the contracts, the suppression of the provisions mentioned as superfluous. Regarding the national law, we consider necessary to keep only one of the two normative acts mentioned, to eliminate the non-compliances shown with the directive, where they exist, and to include in the civil law provisions related to the sale and the lease of the activity for all the types of legal persons, professional or non-professional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the differences in earnings between self-employed and employees in the EU using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data and quantile regression methods. It finds that in both Eastern and Western Europe, self-employment pays more than regular employment only for workers at the top of the earnings distribution and considerably less than regular employment for those below the median. These differences are smaller in Eastern Europe, reflecting lower protection of regular employees. This pattern is not driven by low-skilled workers, and it can be observed in both high-skilled and low-skilled occupations. Results are robust to accounting for differences in taxation, hours worked and individual unobserved characteristics. The evidence provided points to the lack of protective rights for the self-employed and low earnings at the beginning of the self-employment spells as the main explanations for lower earnings for the majority of self-employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, basic or fundamental rights apply, not only in relationships between states and private parties, but also in relationships between private parties themselves, including contractual relationships between private parties. Fundamental rights are often used in contract law in order to protect the weaker party in the contract. There are methods that can protect the weaker party by using Fundamental rights. These methods consist of: Direct horizontal effect and indirect horizontal effect. The latter divides into two methods: Strong indirect horizontal effect and weak indirect horizontal methods. This article considers manner of protection of the weaker party through Fundamental rights in labour contracts, family suretyship contracts and unfair contractual terms. By using above-mentioned methods in these contracts and unfair contractual terms, suitable solutions for the protection of the weaker party can be presented. For example, in the light of Fundamental rights, manifestly excessive penalty clauses and unfair family suretyship contracts can be null and void. It can also protect labours against unfair contractual terms, in labour contracts, such as non-competition clauses.

Productivity slowdown plays a prominent role in the build-up of the euro area crisis. This phenomenon affected member countries asymmetrically, causing divergence in their productivity trends. Recent research traces this divergence back to monetary integration. After reviewing the arguments that link real “disintegration” of the euro area to its monetary integration, we assess them empirically by modelling the evolution of labour productivity using a panel of sectorial data. The results indicate that monetary unification may actually have fostered divergence in productivity trends, and suggest some economic policy measures that could prevent further divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Productivity slowdown plays a prominent role in the build-up of the euro area crisis. This phenomenon affected member countries asymmetrically, causing divergence in their productivity trends. Recent research traces this divergence back to monetary integration. After reviewing the arguments that link real “disintegration” of the euro area to its monetary integration, we assess them empirically by modelling the evolution of labour productivity using a panel of sectorial data. The results indicate that monetary unification may actually have fostered divergence in productivity trends, and suggest some economic policy measures that could prevent further divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional y Comparada de Relaciones Laborales y Derecho del Empleo is the property of ADAPT University Press 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 Româna de Dreptul Muncii is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania 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 knowledge of the vocabulary of labour contracts in the language/culture of countries which are commercial partners is an important skill when one aims to obtain fruitful collaborations and a better transparency of economic relations.In this paper, we address the question of teaching/learning of terms which are related to contracts between the employer and the employee, in the perspective of functional multilingualism. We have experienced teaching this topic in the framework of the course of Italian professional communication (L.E.A. classes), for French students. After a survey of some special characteristics of Italian labour contracts, the students have been asked to make a comparison between the models of French and Italian labour contracts, in order to identify the differences of language/culture and juridical language/culture. This work helps the students to use the Italian terms properly, in the perspective of a future job in Italy.

Copyright of Industrielle Beziehungen is the property of Rainer Hampp Verlag 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.)

Study aim: We hypothesise that due to a lower quality of working life and higher job insecurity, the health and work-related attitudes of temporary workers may be less positive compared to permanent workers. Therefore, we aimed to (1) examine differences between contract groups (i.e. permanent contract, temporary contract with prospect of permanent work, fixed-term contract, temporary agency contract and on-call contract) in the quality of working life, job insecurity, health and work-related attitudes and (2) investigate whether these latter contract group differences in health and work-related attitudes can be explained by differences in the quality of working life and/or job insecurity. Methods: Data were collected from the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey 2008 ( N = 21,639), and Hypotheses were tested using analysis of variance and cross-table analysis. Results: Temporary work was associated with fewer task demands and lower autonomy and was more often passive or high-strain work, while permanent work was more often active work. Except for on-call work, temporary work was more insecure and associated with worse health and work-related attitude scores than permanent work. Finally, the quality of working life and job insecurity partly accounted for most contract differences in work-related attitudes but not in health. Conclusions: Especially agency workers have a lower health status and worse work-related attitudes. Job redesign measures regarding their quality of working life and job insecurity are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current theorizing holds that organizations may be less motivated to offer good work circumstances to temporary workers because the latter do not constitute the core of the organization. This implies that their quality of working life and work satisfaction could be lower than that of permanent workers. Therefore, it is potentially important to examine the prevalence and consequences of having temporary employment. The present study assessed changes in the prevalence of various employment contracts (i.e., permanent, fixed-term, and temporary agency contracts) between 2000/01 and 2005 within five EU country clusters, as well as its gender and age composition and its association with quality of working life and work satisfaction. Cross-sectional data were obtained for all current EU member states from the 2000/01 and 2005 European Working Conditions Surveys (total N = 58,368). Overall the percentage of temporary workers (and particularly fixed-term contractors) increased, whereas especially younger and female workers were likely to hold a temporary contract. Multivariate analysis of variance showed the highest overall quality of working life and work satisfaction for permanent contractors and the lowest for temporary agency workers. These findings were largely independent of time and country cluster. Interventions targeting different labour market outcomes (such as the contract type people receive and the quality of their working life) are needed, both at the European/governmental and the organizational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the limitations of the orthodox economic theory of the firm as a nexus of contracts. Various experimental studies have shown that the aggregation of individuals in groups changes behaviour and preferences systematically. This perspective has been formalised by models of interdependent preferences. Based on a prominent approach of interdependent preferences, intention-based preferences, two types of labour contracts, incentive contracts and bonus contracts are analysed. Results are compared with the predictions of the orthodox economic theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyse the impact of enforcement practices (proxied by judicial formalism) and the regulation of working time on entrepreneurial activity by opportunity. We find that higher enforcement formalism mitigates the negative impact exerted by rigid working time regulations on the number of entrepreneurs. While it is agreed that regulatory rigidities may increase labour transaction costs, we show that entrepreneurs are less sensitive to labour regulations the higher the level of enforcement formalism in which they operate. Higher formalism is associated with lower enforcing efficiency and lower probability of being punished for transgressing laws. A policy implication is that encouraging labour flexibility might not improve conditions for entrepreneurial activity in procedurally formalist countries. This is due to the fact that, in those countries, flexibility de facto characterises employment relations, no matter what the law says. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transfer restrictions have a long tradition in professional sports but came under heavy attack in recent years (e.g. Bosman ruling, Monti system). Based on a bargaining model with stochastic player productivity, we show that less restrictive transfer rules reallocate ex post bargaining power from players to clubs. This reallocation is efficient and in the ex ante self-interest of players. The right to charge transfer fees enables clubs to insure their players. The players, in turn, benefit by converting risky future income into riskless current income. Overall, player utility is higher under more than under less restrictive transfer rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an overview of models of long-term self-enforcing labour contracts in which risk-sharing is the dominant motive for contractual solutions. A base model is developed that is sufficiently general to encompass the two-agent problem central to most of the literature, including variable hours. We consider two-sided limited commitment and look at its implications for aggregate labour market variables. We consider the implications for empirical testing and the available empirical evidence. We also consider the one-sided limited commitment problem for which there exists a considerable amount of empirical support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, legislators and courts look upon noncompetition agreements unfavourably. This paper questions the assumptions underlying the traditional theories on noncompetition clauses and advances two theories that have previously not been found in the legal literature. It is argued that noncompetition clauses are used as a device to self-select employees who desire a long-term contract with the firm. Furthermore, employees agree to these clauses to guarantee that the employer will make specific investments in the employment relationship. The noncompetition agreement protects the creation and distribution of the surplus of the employment relationship. Legal restrictions on noncompetition clauses have the danger of decreasing the ex ante value of the employment relationship. The result will be lower investments and lower wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The movement of the Chinese economy towards a market orientation has been characterized by high levels of foreign direct investment, the diversification of forms of public ownership and the growing economic significance of the private sector as the PRC joins the global economy. These changes have clearly had a significant impact over time on the Chinese labour-force. This study, based on a geographically dispersed sample of sixty-two enterprises, both state-owned and joint venture, examines the effect of these economic reforms on industrial and labour relations, and in particular on the role of trade unions at plant level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the degree to which enterprise reforms in the PRC have affected human resource management practices over the 1990s. A comparison is made between state-owned enterprises and joint venture firms, involving a national sample of sixty-two companies ranging from those in the North to those in the South. Our main findings show how organizational inertia has obstructed the change of the mind-sets associated with the 'iron rice-bowl' that characterized Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) before economic reform. The main conclusions of the research point to ownership, location and size of the firm as the main factors affecting the evolution of HRM in Chinese enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the management of human resources in China's 'hi-tech' revolution, as it mainly appears in its computer hardware, software and related products firms. Based on a study of both large and small enterprises in Beijing's 'Electronics Alley' in Haidian, it looks at their HRM characteristics, namely at their labour management relations, employment contracts, rewards system, social insurance and personnel behaviour (such as recruitment, labour turnover and dismissals). The main conclusions confirm a degree of institutional continuity with past work-unit (danwei) practices but point also to the makings of a new employment relationship, with a weakening of the old 'patron-client' relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]