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The 'Work Style Reform' (WSR) initiative, spearheaded by the late former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, has advocated for the adoption of 'fukugyō' ('side jobs') as an additional source of income for workers. While this initiative is often uncritically viewed as a possible solution to insecure employment, especially for women employed in low-paying, temporary positions, this article argues that the WSR's promotion of fukugyō, reinforces patriarchal norms rather than challenging them. Furthermore, it critiques the neoliberal ideology that underpins the WSR initiative, which portrays underpriviledged groups of workers, such as working women in non-regular employment earning less than their male counterparts, as 'flexible', 'autonomous' and 'entrepreneurial', capable of juggling multiple jobs while fulfiling their domestic duties. The article claims that the WSR's promotion of fukugyō lacks sufficient legal safeguards and social welfare support for fukugyō workers, the majority of whom are not recognised as 'workers' under Japan's labour law. As a result, it could exacerbate the problems of employment insecurity and gender inequality in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which governments implement interventionist or liberalising labour policy reforms, and does the economic context matter? Drawing on the previous literature on government ideology and public policy, we hypothesise that leftist governments are more likely to implement interventionist labour policies. However, we also expect that economic circumstances influence parties’ room to manoeuvre, and we thus hypothesise that the impact of government partisanship on labour policy reform will be weaker during troublesome economic circumstances. The main contribution of this paper is empirical, in that we take seriously the ‘dependent variable problem’ of policy studies that look to aggregate measures to detect instances of retrenchment, by making use of a new dataset on the directionality of 1,446 individual labour reform measures enacted across 13 nations between 1978 and 2017, allowing us to compare government labour policy during periods of varying levels of budgetary deficit, employment, and debt levels. Our results show that left-wing governments implement more interventionist labour policies, but only during less economically ‘challenging’ periods – during dire economic circumstances, economic orthodoxy seems to trump ideology in governmental policy-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of a liberal migration policy that increases labour quotas by 5% on wages and income of residents, native migrants, and new migrants. The article focuses on the impact of migration in 21 areas, with particular attention given to Slovakia and Germany. It is based on data collected from the Global Trade Analysis Project database and the experimental design by Walmsley, Ahmed, and Parsons, with adjustments to capture current global migration flows. The findings indicate that the immigration of new unskilled workers negatively impacts the real wages of unskilled residents, decreasing them by almost 3%, while the arrival of skilled workers increases them by 0.73%. Similarly, the real wages of skilled residents decrease by 2.62% due to the arrival of new skilled migrants, while unskilled migration results in its increase by 0.53%. These findings can aid policymakers in developing policies that maximize the benefits of migration. This research provides new insights into the wage effects of migration in different areas, focusing on Germany and Slovakia.

In December 2021, the European Commission proposed a directive creating five criteria for the presumed classification of platform economy workers as salaried employees. The issue is timely, of course, as the digital organisation of work continues to grow rapidly. Our article contrasts the merits and limitations of this initiative to the Canadian experience concerning so-called independent contractors in the platform economy. In fact, Canadian labour law has long recognised a third status of workers—dependent contractors. It permits collective bargaining, while platform workers remain autonomous, notably for tax purposes. Immediately, the striking similarities between the European Union’s five criteria and judicial tests applied by Canadian labour tribunals seem to indicate that both entities are moving in the same direction. However, the federal structure of labour law in Canada and the single market’s social dimension also pose important challenges regarding the uniform implementation of new protections. Based on recent fieldwork in Toronto, and as the European Union directive moves into the approval and implementation stages, our article addresses the research question of how basic labour rights in the platform economy progress similarly (or differently), and which actors are driving the change on each side of the Atlantic. We argue that this policy field provides labour market actors with opportunities for “institutional experimentation” navigating the openings and limitations of federalism.

The empirical evidence on the association between labour market flexibility and research & development (R&D) activities of firms is limited only to developed economies. In this research note, we examine the relationship between labour market flexibility and the R&D decisions of firms in India's organised manufacturing. Using a cross-section of manufacturing firms from the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2015–16 unit-level data, we model the R&D decision of firms as a two-step process. We use Cragg's Double-hurdle model that examines the probability of undertaking R&D in the first stage and the extent of R&D expenditure Amongst the R&D-performing firms in the second stage. Controlling for the firm-specific determinants of R&D expenditure, we find that the spatial variation in labour market flexibility is negatively and significantly associated with the extent of R&D expenditure of R&D-performing Indian firms. We extend the analysis by proxying R&D investment with the factories' net investment in plant and machinery. We found a similar negative correlation between labour market flexibility and the net value of plant and machinery of factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Platform Work (DPW) is part of a new phase of capitalism, in which monopolistic digital platforms use algorithms to mediate labour supply and demand. As DPW grows, the share of atypical workers in the labour market increases and European Union states are pressed to regulate it, but the strategies adopted are different. This is the case with the regulation of DPW in the passenger transport sector approved by the governments of Portugal and Spain. This paper makes a comparative analysis of these case studies based on parliamentary debates and media reports. We argue that the centre-left parties which led the governments in both countries, adopted a distinct regulation strategy because they each have specific conceptions of solidarity.

In December 2021, the European Commission proposed a directive creating five criteria for the presumed classification of platform economy workers as salaried employees. The issue is timely, of course, as the digital organisation of work continues to grow rapidly. Our article contrasts the merits and limitations of this initiative to the Canadian experience concerning so‐called independent contractors in the platform economy. In fact, Canadian labour law has long recognised a third status of workers—dependent contractors. It permits collective bargaining, while platform workers remain autonomous, notably for tax purposes. Immediately, the striking similarities between the European Union’s five criteria and judicial tests applied by Canadian labour tribunals seem to indicate that both entities are moving in the same direction. However, the federal structure of labour law in Canada and the single market’s social dimension also pose important challenges regarding the uniform implementation of new protections. Based on recent fieldwork in Toronto, and as the European Union directive moves into the approval and implementation stages, our article addresses the research question of how basic labour rights in the platform economy progress similarly (or differently), and which actors are driving the change on each side of the Atlantic. We argue that this policy field provides labour market actors with opportunities for “institutional experimentation” navigating the openings and limitations of federalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite persistent depictions to the contrary, coercion pervades the modern work experience and, in many significant respects, is underwritten by the power of the state. This article outlines some of the ways in which long-standing interventions by Canadian (and British) states continue to affect workplace relations today. To appreciate the scope of this effect, it is necessary to trespass across a number of disciplinary boundaries to include topics such as immigration, deportation, political policing, the legal foundations of employment law, the continuing influence of the British Poor Laws, and the role of prisons and prison labour in helping to regulate work standards. States acted to support proletarianization in a comprehensive way, but their tendency to favour large-scale, "labour-saving" building projects has often undermined the actual effectiveness of their efforts at social control. These patterns still haunt prison policy, as I will show toward the end of the article in discussing the Toronto South Detention Centre. Malgré les protestations persistantes du contraire, la coercition imprègne l'expérience de travail moderne et, à de nombreux égards importants, elle est garantie par le pouvoir de l'État. Cet article décrit certaines des façons dont les interventions de longue date des États canadiens (et britanniques) continuent d'affecter les relations de travail aujourd'hui. Pour apprécier la portée de cet effet, il est nécessaire de franchir un certain nombre de frontières disciplinaires pour inclure des sujets tels que l'immigration, la déportation, la police politique, les fondements juridiques du droit du travail, l'influence continue des lois britanniques sur les pauvres et le rôle dès prisons et du travail pénitentiaire pour aider à réglementer les normes de travail. Les États ont agi pour soutenir la prolétarisation de manière globale, mais leur tendance à favoriser les projets de construction à grande échelle et « économes en maind'œuvre » a souvent sapé l'efficacité réelle de leurs efforts de contrôle social. La politique pénitentiaire est toujours hantée par ces schémas de coercition, comme on le verra clairement vers la fin de l'article dans notre discussion sur le Centre de détention du Sud de Toronto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing empirical studies concerning labour market rigidity associated with the labour laws in India suggest an adverse impact of rigidity on total factor productivity (TFP). In this paper, we improve upon both the measurement of spatiotemporal variation in labour market flexibility and plant-level TFP from production function estimates in the presence of institutional rigidity in labour inputs adjustment due to job security legislation based on the recent advancement in the literature. We use an unbalanced panel of manufacturing plants from the Annual Survey of Industries panel data from 1999–2000 to 2016–17 to analyse the relationship between labour market rigidity/flexibility and TFP. We find that establishments that fall under the purview of job security legislation have higher productivity than those outside the ambit of job security legislation. The results suggest that rigidity associated with job security provisions does not harm TFP, and higher flexibility is negatively associated with TFP. However, we find considerable heterogeneity in the flexibility–TFP relationship across various industry groups. The heterogeneity in the flexibility–TFP relationship suggests that flexibility-inducing labour policy may improve TFP in some industries and, at the same time, decrease it in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais 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.)

This essay is a flash report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Japan's labour market in the fiscal year 2020 wherein Japan's unemployment rate increase was much milder than in other G7 countries. How was such a favourable outcome achieved? To answer this question, this essay analyses primary statistics to show that the main contributing factors were the swift cut of labour hours and the rapid increase in coronavirus-related paid leave. The latter factor is due primarily to an expanded labour policy measure. Generous policy measures to support corporate finance were also effective in maintaining general financial stability and preventing an increase in failures in the fiscal year 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absolutely exceptional under many respects, the XVIII parliamentary term has represented a peculiar terrain for welfare reform. On the one side, over the past five years, three highly heterogeneous governments have alternated in power, supported by different coalitions, each resulting from demanding negotiations and alliances between parties, within a moving political landscape. On the other side, the legislature has been heavily affected by the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 health emergency and its harsh social and economic consequences. Despite the complexity of the overall scenario and the internal frictions experienced by the three short-lived cabinets, since 2018, important reforms were enacted in key welfare sectors, marking in some cases a break with the previous institutional legacy. The paper aims at critically examining the trajectory of welfare reforms during the last parliamentary term, shedding light on how they have been shaped through time by a combination of external turbulences and political constraints. Adopting an historical institutionalist approach, the analysis focuses on the transformations occurred in key social policy areas - anti-poverty policy and income support, family policy and pensions - in order to examine the major innovations and shifts occurred under the three cabinets, featuring such diverse electoral bases and ideological stances.

The article assesses the impact of the Jobs Act, the labour market reform passed in Italy under Matteo Renzi's cabinet in 2014–2015. In doing so, the study has a twofold aim. First, it contributes to the scholarly debate on labour market flexibilization, offering fresh empirical evidence about the debated effects of deregulatory reforms on employment performance. Second, our empirical investigation relies on an innovative approach, the synthetic control method, which allows us to estimate what would have happened if the Jobs Act had not been introduced. After the downturns of the Great Recession, the major goal of this flagship initiative was to boost overall employment performance while reducing labour market segmentation and enhancing more stable job opportunities for labour market outsiders, especially among younger cohorts and women. Comparing real-world observations for a number of key employment indicators with their estimated synthetic counterfactuals, we find that the Jobs Act did not fulfil its expectations. In line with part of the most recent literature addressing the impact of deregulatory reforms on employment performance, our results show that over the past five years no significant effects were driven by the reform, which may even have led to an increase in labour market segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is growing scholarly interest in work conditions in China's internet industry, many studies have focused exclusively on corporate employment relations strategies. By contrast, the article demonstrates the Chinese government's significant role in shaping the collective work experience in business reality. Drawing on three months of fieldwork in China, the findings suggest that the state's quest for technology supremacy has resulted in internet companies that compete ferociously, which in turn causes extreme working hours and burnout. The censorship of online labour activism and the ambiguity in court decisions also lower the interest of tech workers in organising and defending their labour rights. This study opens up an evidence-based debate on industrial relations in contemporary China and calls for more discussions on the state's role in shaping worker well-being and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-time work schemes (STWS) have become a fundamental instrument in Spain to tackle the labour adjustment triggered by the pandemic crisis. The aim of this study was to assess their impact on the labour market, analysing their importance according to activities and territories, aspects that have received very little attention in the existing literature. To this end, we conducted a statistical analysis of information provided by the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and calculated sectoral and provincial coverage rates. The results confirm that STWS have made it possible to mitigate the impact of the crisis, in contrast to what happened in the financial crisis of 2008, where the application of neoliberal austerity policies came at a high social cost. Accordingly, where a higher level of coverage has been achieved, many tourist provinces on the Mediterranean coast, as well as Madrid and Barcelona, have demonstrated “responsive” behaviour. Thus, although these provinces were the most heavily affected when the pandemic broke out, they have nevertheless achieved a rapid recovery. This contrasts with the more “vulnerable” behaviour of the industrial provinces in the north of Spain, which have been affected by a reduction in demand or problems in global production chains, and where the degree of coverage of this instrument has been lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Between the 1980s and 2000s, an epidemic of silicosis was identified in migrant black gold miners, many from neighbouring countries, who had worked in the South African gold mines. This study uses the newly available employment database of a large gold mining company to demonstrate how a sustained rise in employment duration in a new cohort of black migrant workers resulted from changes in recruitment policy, and it examines the implications for current surveillance and redress. Methods: Contract data of 300,774 workers from the employment database of a multi-mine gold mining company were analysed for 1973–2018. Piecewise linear regression was applied to determine trends in cumulative employment, including South African versus cross-border miners. The proportions with cumulative employment of at least 10, 15, or 20 years, typical thresholds for chronic silicosis, were also calculated. Results: Five calendar phases were identified between 1973 and 2018. During the second phase, 1985–2013, mean cumulative duration of employment rose fivefold, from 4 to 20 years. Cumulative employment continued to rise, although more slowly, before peaking in 2014 at 23.5 years and falling thereafter to 20.1 years in 2018. Over most of the 1973–2018 period, miners from neighbouring countries had greater cumulative employment than South African miners. Overall, the proportion of miners exiting with at least 15 years of cumulative employment rose from 5% in 1988 to 75% in 2018. This report identifies a number of fundamental changes in labour recruitment policy in the gold mining industry in the 1970s which provide an explanation for the subsequent rise in cumulative exposure and associated silicosis risk. Conclusions: These new data support the hypothesis of a silicosis epidemic driven by increasing cumulative silica dust exposure in a new cohort of circular migrant workers from the 1970s. They inform current programmes to improve surveillance of this neglected population for silicosis and related disease and to provide medical examinations and compensation to a large number of former gold mines. The analysis highlights the lack of information on cumulative employment and silicosis risk among migrant miners in previous decades. The findings have global relevance to the plight of such migrant workers in hazardous occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1933, the German government introduced the marriage loan for newlyweds, a policy aimed at increasing marriages and births as well as male employment, which entailed a work ban for the wife and sizeable credit deductions for children. This paper illustrates that the policy was rather ineffective based on a critical evaluation of the existing literature on the topic, how the policy was implemented in practice, as well as a correlation and interrupted time series analysis and consideration of the historical context of the period between 1925 and 1939. This result starkly contrasts to the substantial changes expected at the time of the introduction. In theory, only a small fraction of newlyweds was eligible for the loan. In practice, the development of marriages postintroduction significantly differed from the period prior to the policy, but causation is unclear. While births increased, this can be attributed to a combination of policies and the improved economic environment compared to the crisis years. The sharp decrease in unemployment probably resulted from the introduction of several targeted policies and embellishment of unemployment statistics.

Objectives: Between the 1980s and 2000s, an epidemic of silicosis was identified in migrant black goldminers, many from neighbouring countries, on the South African gold mines. This studies aimed to use the newly available employment database of a large goldmining company to demonstrate how a sustained rise in employment duration in a new cohort of black migrant workers resulted from changes in recruitment policy, and the implications for current surveillance and redress of silicosis. Methods: Contract data of 300,774 workers from the employment database of a multi-mine goldmining company were analysed for 1973-2018. Piecewise logistic regression was applied to determine trends in cumulative employment, including South African versus cross-border miners. The proportions with cumulative employment >10, 15 or 20 years, typical thresholds for chronic silicosis, were also calculated. Results: Five calendar phases were identified between 1973 and 2018. During the second phase, 1985-2013, mean cumulative employment rose five-fold, from four to 20 years. Cumulative employment continued to rise, although more slowly, before peaking in 2014 and falling thereafter. Over most of the 1973-2018 period, cross-border miners had greater cumulative employment than South African miners. Overall, the proportion of miners exiting with >15 years, rose from 5% in 1988 to 75% in 2018. The record of changes in labour recruitment in the 1970s is consistent with the emergence of this epidemic, with no corresponding evidence of a sustained rise in dust concentrations. Conclusions: These new data support the hypothesis of a silicosis epidemic driven by increasing cumulative dust exposure in a new cohort of circular migrant workers from the 1970s. They inform current programmes to examine and compensate this neglected population for silicosis and related disease, while highlighting the lack of information on cumulative employment and silicosis among migrant miners in previous decades. The findings also have relevance to the plight of such migrant workers in hazardous occupations globally.

Agents, acting strategically as institutional entrepreneurs, utilise narratives that resonate with both the structure and institutions to promote change. The hypothesis in this article holds that if they intend to be successful, agents must behave strategically by taking into account the different policy domains and the dominant ideas therein. At the same time, the narratives of the institutional entrepreneur should take into careful consideration the various enabling conditions that may occur at multiple levels. The use of narratives are compared for two reforms – the "Jobs Act" and the "Buona Scuola – Good School" – formulated by the Italian government between 2014 and 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architecture of European labour policy has changed in the past years of the euro crisis and its management. While in the pre-crisis phase EU labour policy still had a mainly symbolic character, the EU crisis management gave it a much more binding character. The article analyses the continuities and shifts in European labour policy against the background of austerity and crisis policy arguing that a new labour policy complex was able to emerge at the European level. While institutional shifts were considerable, the market-liberal orientation of labour policy remained in place. However, it was radicalized with the resilience approach. The article therefore provides an overview of the continuity and change of European labour policy in the euro crisis on the basis of institutional and discursive shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czech position vis-à-vis the NGEU plan prioritised the maximisation of grants for domestic investments while ensuring autonomy in their targeting. The National Resilience and Recovery Plan prioritises the investment side at the expense of structural reforms. The direction of investments resembles the priorities pursued in the context of cohesion policy, while meeting climate and digital targets. Most of the investments are in infrastructure projects. The biggest shortcoming of the Czech plan is the absence of a vision of how to take advantage of the economic potential of the green transition and digitalisation.

In 2013, the Cambodian People's Party faced two major threats: a near loss at the ballot box in the national election and large-scale demonstrations by garment workers dissatisfied with the minimum wage. Unsurprisingly, the government responded by cracking down on the opposition, the independent media and civil society groups. Labour leaders were persecuted and legislation passed that undermined unions' ability to organise and register. Less predictably, this crackdown was accompanied by an attempt to woo garment workers through policies that delivered tangible benefits to them as individuals. There was a marked shift in the party's focus from its traditional rural constituency to the urban working class. In this article we examine how labour acts collectively to shape politics within authoritarian regimes. We do this by interrogating labour's role at a time when the state was clearly shifting towards hegemonic authoritarianism. By re-assessing the 2013 and 2018 national elections through this lens, we demonstrate the bidirectional nature of state–labour relations even in authoritarian regimes. We conclude that, even where election results are largely predetermined, elections can provide opportunities for workers to strengthen their position by prompting shifts in not only in patronage but in policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Educación (Version impresa) is the property of Organizacion de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) 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.)

What makes work useful, on what grounds and for whom? Classical economists distinguished between productive and unproductive labour. They focused primarily on productive labour and its ability to generate wealth for the economy as a whole, which influences why economic policies currently prioritize economically productive work over other forms of work. After reviewing the relationships between work and capabilities in the capability approach, this article addresses the individual and collective impacts of work on capabilities. It introduces a more complex and human-centred distinction between capability-enhancing and capability-reducing work. Finally, it proposes a capability-informed labour policy and designs new rights to assist in better aligning individually and socially capability-enhancing work. It shows how this policy has the potential to free from the economic need to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note, we assess the newly introduced Industrial Relations Code (IRC) 2020. First, we compare the provisions in IRC 2020 with its predecessor, Industrial Disputes Act (IDA) 1947, and the amendments to IDA 1947 in 1976 and 1982 regarding the employment protection provisions against layoffs, retrenchments, and closures. We find that IRC 2020 merely restored the factory-size threshold to the initial IDA amendment 1976 level of 300 or more workers to which IDA 1947 originally applied from 100 or more workers as notified in the 1982 IDA amendment. We calculate the effect of the threshold-size change on the workers and factories on the firms registered under the Factories Act 1948 2(m). We find from the ASI 2017–2018 data that an estimated 7.07% of the factories and 15.97% of the workers will be affected due to the change in the threshold size introduced through IRC, 2020. Finally, we conclude by discussing the current relevance of the employment protection legislation during the pandemic time and the need for discretionary usage and temporary expansion of coverage of employment protection provisions under the IRC if warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using administrative database containing work history and programme participation for the entire national workforce, the paper evaluates Slovenia's four main active labour market programmes: institutional training, on-the-job training, wage subsidies and public works. The studied outcomes range from post-unemployment employment probability and job quality to cumulative effects on employment and earnings over the longer run, and also include programmes' cost-effectiveness. We identify programme effects by comparing outcomes of treatment and control groups using propensity score matching. The results show that the programmes perform rather well judged both by their impact on labour market outcomes and by their cost-effectiveness: except for public works, all programmes are found to have a net benefit in terms of government expenditures. Our results are robust to time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity in the treatment and control groups, as we corroborate the baseline propensity score matching results with a difference-in-difference estimator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the changes of Local Labour Markets (LLM) in Spain from 2001 to 2011 of 11 population subgroups (gender, 4 activities, 4 sectors and general population). An algorithmic iterative process with N-1 steps is used to examine commuting data for the 11 subgroups and to trace LLM in both years by maximising the self-containment of jobs (number of jobs occupied by residents of the area and number of residents working in the same area) of the generated areas. Four indexes are calculated for each LLM, and the variation of these four indexes between 2001 and 2011 allows us to classify them as areas that change from areas with a surplus of jobs to deficit areas, or vice versa. The evidence indicates an increase in mobility, difference in the rates of mobility according to subgroup characteristics, and the conversion of surplus markets in employment to deficit markets. These trends give way to wider functional areas and lower levels of self-containment reflected in the length of the journey to work. This impacts quality of life, social cohesion, and the sustainability of the territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on national public administration activities that relate to employment, social protection and industrial relations. The International Labour Organization (ILO) refers to these activities collectively as 'labour administration' and regards the bodies that conduct them within individual countries as together forming national systems of labour administration. This article explores the concept of 'national system of labour administration' and considers the potential contribution of comparative institutional analysis in understanding how national systems are organised and change over time. The article also compares the organisation of national labour administration systems in European Union (EU) countries and analyses how these systems have developed since the start of the economic crisis that erupted in 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What leads states to adopt more restrictive labour policies? The conventional wisdom is that unified Republican states, with help from conservative political networks, are more likely to adopt restrictions on labour unions. We argue that party control of government matters but is constrained by voter preferences and the power of organised labour. We create new estimates of state-level public support for unions by income thirds using dynamic multilevel regression and poststratification. Using this measure, we predict the adoption of restrictive labour policies, such as right-to-work and minimum wage preemption laws. We find that Republican governments are less likely to adopt restrictive policies when unions are strong and when union support among middle- and low-income earners is high. Interestingly, these results run contrary to much of the literature on the unequal representation of the wealthy in public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how material and non‐material well‐being is under‐stood and experienced by female migrant workers in unskilled labour‐intensive industries. It follows the capability approach pioneered by Amartya Sen, arguing that a lack of self‐ and collective empowerment can undermine economic, social and psychological well‐being. Data drawn from a survey of a cross section of 249 female migrant workers in garment factories in Myanmar support this theory. In the light of the country's economic and social transitions, its asymmetric labour market and its underdeveloped social security system, the author suggests that labour policies should embrace and empower the most vulnerable groups of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociología del Trabajo 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.)

Objective: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how a high-skilled competitively-priced Polish labour force, thriving amid manufacturing policies which are far from a coalition of coincidences, has created a specialist yacht-building sector – and a superyacht one with exceptional potential. Research Design & Methods: After the superyacht sector is defined and described, this theoretical and empirical study sets out to apply basic correlation and regression in order to isolate demand and production factors most likely to explain and ensure continued success. Limited data and previous research produces a clear result nonetheless. Compared with boatyards in nascent or mature boatbuilding nations, manufacturing nations with a strong labour market – a highly-skilled, cost-competitive workforce – are delivering persistent prosperity with promise of further growth. This, for the first time, weighs the comparative importance of supply-side factors driving production, as well as it points to the way for further work to understand its success. Findings: A positive relationship between overall global fleet size and the numbers of millionaires in producer countries is confirmed by correlation and regression analyses, which proves three hypotheses. First, the dominant influence of competitive labour resources; second, the much lesser role of tax policy among other factors, such as industry path dependency and education levels, which are also key economic drivers of growth. The third, subsidiary hypothesis also holds: that a sector with special advantages – in this case luxury products in a resilient marketplace – can to some extent avoid the disadvantages of an economy’s small size while outperforming other manufacturing segments. The findings confirm that the global superyacht market presents significant opportunities for expansion and enterprise for producers such as Poland. Implications/Recommendations: The EU recognises the importance of marine industries to trade and enterprise. However, to take advantage of assured superyacht market growth, policymakers need to continue to nurture a skilled labour pool with funding and training support. They could also cut corporation tax to specifically support boatbuilders, perhaps introducing a lower tier for innovating and expanding industries under Industrial Revolution 0.4 strategies. Contribution/Value Added: The values of this article include the following: an in-depth examination of a specific sector with appeal to work and wealth creators worldwide; identifying a special labour market premium in Poland as well as low-cost producer nations and unrecognised upside opportunities for all market participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the world into an unprecedented crisis and uncertainty, calling to expedite the implementation of the Centenary Declaration. It called upon constituents to pursue 'with unrelenting vigour its [ILO] constitutional mandate for social justice by further developing its human centred approach to the future of work'. It called for putting workers' rights and the needs, aspirations and rights of all people at the heart of economic, social and environmental policies. The international community and ILO's constituents have engaged in a collective endeavour to tackle the devastating human impact of the pandemic, but more is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the debates concerning labour market flexibility in India and suggests an improved measure of labour market flexibility to overcome the shortcomings of the existing measures. A state-wise time-variant composite index considering both de jure and de facto indicators of flexibility is constructed to account for the stringency of regulation of hiring and firing practices that affect labour adjustment mechanism of organised manufacturing sector firms in India. The newly built index reaffirms the criticism and limitations of the existing measures which solely rely on de jure indicators by pointing out that de jure measures alone are highly misleading and insufficient to identify a state's labour market flexibility status. The index has been put to application in examining the role of spatial variation in labour market flexibility in explaining the difference in employment growth in India's organised manufacturing sector. The paper finds no evidence in support of a statistically significant effect of spatial variation in flexibility in explaining the variation in employment growth. Interestingly, the paper demonstrates that employment elasticity of growth was lower in "flexible" states as compared to the "rigid" states, indicating that greater flexibility is associated with a weaker employment performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews international experience with selected measures aimed at increasing employment of older workers and identifies best practices. Among the measures addressing worker obstacles, the paper focuses on the promotion of training, on adjusting employment services and active labour market programs for older workers, and on promoting better working conditions; among the areas addressing employer obstacles, it focuses on adjusting employment protection rules for older workers, on subsidizing wages of older workers, and on challenging employers' negative perceptions. In addition, to offer a perspective into more holistic approaches that countries have applied, the report provides three case studies of targeted programs on older workers in United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]