A Brief History of Long Work Time and the Contemporary Sources of Overwork

What are some of the key historical trends in hours of work per worker in US? What economic, social-psychological, organizational and institutional forces determine the length of individuals’ working hours? How much of the trend toward longer working hours among so many workers may be attributable to workers’ preferences, workplace incentives or employers’ constraints? When can work become overwork or workaholism – an unforced addiction to incessant work activity which risk harm to workers, families or even economies? The first part of this article traces the history of the length of working hours and its recent polarization. The second part develops a multi-disciplinary model to identify motivations behind working longer hours. Individuals' desired work hours will stem from the weighted contribution of five sources: (1) current real wage rates; (2) forward-looking, wage trajectories; (3) relative status associated with hours of labor; (4) intrinsic rewards, process benefits or amenities acquired through work; (5) hours demanded by the employer and other structural constraints, to which workers may adapt. Employers and their established conditions of work have influenced the course of long run trends labor supply and in work time structures. The final section suggests policies that might address the persistence of long hours.     

“Karoshi (Work to Death)” in Japan

Since the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy in the early 1990’s, the Japanese economy has only recovered slightly. This has direct implications for employment. Both the seniority wage system and the lifetime employment system, which were popular during the period of economic growth in Japan, unavoidably changed to an outcome-wage system. Now there is greater mobility in employment, increased use of non-regular employees, and diversed working patterns. The problem of karoshi – a potentially fatal syndrome resulting from long work hours – has been known since the early 1980s. This problem has become more serious in recent years. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the economic and employment conditions in Japan, as well as to examine the working lifestyle of Japanese men and its connection to “karoshi.” It is argued that (1) the long work hours are not the preference of individuals, but rather the result of the adaptation to the work environment, and; (2) solving this problem requires re-conceptualization of workers’ human rights on the part of both companies and the society as a whole.     

Sweatshop Regulation and Workers’ Choices

The choice argument against sweatshop regulations states that public officials should not prohibit workers from accepting jobs that require long hours, low pay, and poor working conditions, because enforcing such regulations would be disrespectful to the workers who choose to work in sweatshops. Critics of the choice argument reply that these regulations can be justified when workers only choose to work in sweatshops because they lack acceptable alternatives and are unable to coordinate to achieve better conditions for all workers. My thesis is that the presence of unacceptable alternatives to sweatshop labor or barriers to coordination cannot justify sweatshop regulations such as minimum wage and maximum hour laws. Although officials should promote alternatives to difficult and dangerous sweatshop labor, they should not do so by limiting workers’ and employers’ options through coercive regulation. And the fact that sweatshop workers may face coordination problems does not undermine the claim that sweatshop workers choose to work in sweatshops, just as other workers face coordination problems but nevertheless make occupational choices. Furthermore, efforts to restrict sweatshop workers’ choices are morally risky and may not promote workers’ wellbeing or wellbeing in general.     

Worktime Demands and Work-Family Interference: Does Worktime Control Buffer the Adverse Effects of High Demands?

This study examined whether worktime control buffered the impact of worktime demands on work–family interference (WFI), using data from 2,377 workers from various sectors of industry in The Netherlands. We distinguished among three types of worktime demands: time spent on work according to one’s contract (contractual hours), the number of hours spent on overtime work (overtime hours), and the number of hours spent on commuting (commuting hours). Regarding worktime control, a distinction was made between having control over days off and vacations (leave control) and having control over starting and finishing times (flextime). These three worktime demands were expected to have separate as well as joint effects on WFI, whereas worktime control should buffer these adverse effects of worktime demands on WFI. Stepwise regression analyses showed that working high numbers of contractual and overtime hours was indeed associated with high WFI. Further, worktime control indeed made a difference in terms of WFI: whereas leave control contributed directly to lower WFI, flextime buffered the adverse effects of long contractual workhours. Our results suggest that very long working days should be prevented, and that worktime control may be a powerful tool to help workers maintaining a good work–family balance.     

Children’s Labor Market Involvement,Household Work,and Welfare: A Brazilian Case Study

The large numbers of children working in developing countries continue to provoke calls for an end to such employment. However, many reformers argue that efforts should focus on ending the exploitation of children rather than depriving them of all opportunities to work. This posture reflects recognition of the multiplicity of needs children have and the diversity of situations in which they work. Unfortunately, research typically neglects these complexities and fails to distinguish between types of labor market jobs, dismisses household chores as irrelevant, and conceptualizes children’s needs largely in terms of the education they require for successful careers. Based on data collected in schools in Franca, Brazil, where children often combine school with work in the shoe industry, this study first examined the implications of labor market jobs and household work for their health, life satisfaction, and education. Analyses suggested that both forms of work negatively affected children’s welfare, but the effects of household work were more extensive, especially for girls. The second part focused on children with labor market jobs and examined how facets of their jobs as well as their after-work household duties affected their welfare. A lack of discretion on the job undermined the health of both boys and girls, higher pay adversely affected boys’ education, and housework had detrimental effects on all indicators of girls’ welfare. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for further research and suggests the needs for attention to different forms of work activities within families. It concludes with suggestions for multinationals sourcing in developing areas that go beyond the usual calls for ridding their facilities and supply networks of child workers.     

Foreign Wage Premium,Gender and Education: Insights from Vietnam Household Surveys

This paper investigates the differential impacts of foreign ownership on wages for different types of workers (in terms of educational background and gender) in Vietnam using the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys of 2002 and 2004. Whereas most previous studies have compared wage levels between foreign and domestic sectors using firm‐level data (thus excluding the informal sector), one advantage of using the Living Standards Surveys in this paper is that the data allow wage comparison analyses to extend to the informal wage sector. A series of Mincerian earnings equations and worker‐specific fixed effects models are estimated. Several findings emerge. First, foreign firms pay higher wages relative to their domestic counterparts after controlling for workers' personal characteristics. Second, the higher the individual workers' levels of education, the larger on average are the wage premiums for those who work for foreign firms. Third, longer hours of work in foreign firm jobs relative to working in the informal wage sector are an important component of the wage premium. Finally, unskilled women experience a larger foreign wage premium than unskilled men, reflecting the low earning opportunities for women and a higher gender gap in the informal wage sector.     

农民工与城市职工的工资差异及其分解――人力资本与歧视的贡献

文章关注城市职工和农民工两个群体工资差异的大小和来源。利用CGSS2013数据和均值分解法,文章考察了人力资本和歧视的贡献。研究发现：在实现就业以后,两个群体的工资差异主要来自于特征差异,歧视并不是一个十分严重的问题;对农民工群体的歧视主要存在于就业实现的过程中,就业歧视解释了两个群体大约一半的工资差异;教育从特征差异、回报率差异、就业概率差异三个方面为工资差异做出了贡献;工作经验在工资决定中具有逆歧视作用。我们的研究意味着,要缩小两个群体的工资差异必须从缩小前市场差别开始,并通过促进市场竞争、明确歧视的实践标准、简化反歧视的诉讼程序等措施来减少就业歧视的贡献。     

Ethical Issues Relating to the Health Effects of Long Working Hours

Considerable research evidence has accumulated indicating that there is an increased likelihood for illness and injury among employees working in long-hour schedules and schedules involving unconventional shift work (e.g., night and evening shifts). In addition, studies show that fatigue-related errors made by employees working in these kind of demanding schedules can have serious and adverse repercussions for public safety. As the result of these concerns, new protective legislation is being advocated in the United States, for instance, to restrict the hours of work among nurses and other health-care professionals. This article reviews the history of concerns about long working hours and the current scientific evidence regarding their effects on workers’ health. The ethical implications of unconventional shift work and long work-hour schedules are considered. Relevant ethical considerations involve mandatory or unpaid overtime and the possibility of employer coercion, the political basis for government regulation of working hours, potential limits on voluntary assumption of risk, societal benefits accruing from the equitable distribution of available working hours, gender-based inequities related to working hours, and employer responsibilities for protecting individuals who are not employees from the spillover effects of demanding work schedules.     

Impacts of Corporate Code of Conduct on Labor Standards: A Case Study of Reebok’s Athletic Footwear Supplier Factory in China

This study examines the social impacts of labor-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies or corporate codes of conduct on upholding labor standards through a case study of CSR discourses and codes implementation of Reebok – a leading branded company enjoying a high-profiled image for its human rights achievement – in a large Taiwanese-invested athletic footwear factory located in South China. I find although implementation of Reebok labor-related codes has resulted in a “race to ethical and legal minimum” labor standards when notoriously inhumane and seriously illegal labor rights abuses were curbed, Chinese workers were forced to work harder and faster but, earned less payment and the employee-elected trade union installed through codes implementation operated more like a “company union” rather than an autonomous workers’ organization representing worker’ interests. In order to explain the paradoxical effects of Reebok labor-related codes on labor standards, I argue the result is determined by both structural forces and agency-related factors embedded in industrial, national and local contexts. To put it shortly, I find the effectiveness of Reebok labor-related codes is constrained not only by unsolved tension between Reebok’s impetus for profit maximization and commitment to workers’ human rights, but also by hard-nosed competition realities at marketplace, and Chinese government’s insufficient protection of labor rights. Despite drawing merely from a single case study, these findings illuminate key determinants inhibiting the effectiveness of labor-related CSR policies or codes in upholding labor standards, and hence two possible way-outs of the deadlock: (1) sharing cost for improving labor standards among key players in global supply chain; and (2) combining regulatory power of voluntary codes and compulsory state legislations. I would like to thank three anonymous referees for helpful comments on earlier version of this article. I also would like to express my appreciation to professor Pun Ngai, for her continuous guidance and support during the work on this article.     

Spiritual Leadership as a Paradigm for Organizational Transformation and Recovery from Extended Work Hours Cultures

Various explanations are offered to explain why employees increasingly work longer hours: the combined effects of technology and globalization; people are caught up in consumerism; and the “ideal worker norm,” when professionals expect themselves and others to work longer hours. In this article, we propose that the processes of employer recruitment and selection, employee self-selection, cultural socialization, and reward systems help create extended work hours cultures (EWHC) that reinforce these trends. Moreover, we argue that EWHC organizations are becoming more prevalent and that organizations in which long hours have become the norm may recruit for and reinforce workaholic tendencies. Next, we offer spiritual leadership as a paradigm for organizational transformation and recovery from the negative aspects of EWHC to enhance employee well-being and corporate social responsibility without sacrificing profitability, revenue growth, and other indicators of financial performance. Finally, we will offer suggestions for future theory, research, and practice.     

The Employer Size-Wage Differentials in Taiwan

This paper examines the factors affecting wage differentials for firms of different sizes, using Taiwans Manpower Utilization Survey data of 1996. The main findings of the paper are as follows: (a) People with years of education, working experience, degrees in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, as well as females and married people tend to have a greater preference for working in big firms. Workers in public utility companies and manufacturing industries also prefer to work in big firms. While professionals, technicians, and service and sales workers prefer to work in large firms, business executives and managers have a preference for small firms. (b) Small-scale (less than 100 workers) firms tend to have a negative selection, while large-scale (more than 500 workers) firms tend to have a positive selection. That is, under self-selection, more able workers choose to work at large firms and less able workers at small firms.     

企业异质性、劳动力异质性与技能工资差距

文章提出研究假设,构建理论模型,揭示了企业异质性、劳动力异质性对技能工资差距的影响机理;基于中国工业企业微观数据,对企业异质性、劳动力异质性与技能工资差距的关系进行了实证研究。研究结果表明：(1)企业异质性对技能工资差距有显著的影响。其中企业绩效越好、创新能力越强、生产率水平越高、外资参与度越高,则技能工资差距越大。出口企业与体制内企业存在明显的技能工资溢价。(2)劳动力异质性对技能工资差距有显著的影响。其中男性占比越高、受教育年限越长、技能型员工占比与技术型员工占比越高,则技能工资差距越大;人力资本异质性进一步扩大了性别技能工资差距。(3)劳动力异质性与企业异质性交互项对技能工资差距有显著的影响。其中技能型员工占比扩大了狭义技能工资差距,技术型员工占比进一步扩大了广义技能工资差距,广义技能工资差距大于狭义技能工资差距。在此基础上提出了具有一定参考价值的政策建议,并对未来的研究方向进行展望。     

The labor force of the future.

In the decades ahead, the US labor force will reflect changes in the industrial structure, with declines in some manufacturing industries and expansion in service industries. The services sector is so diverse that the jobs within it cannot be categorized as either high wage or low wage. The service-producing sector employs 85% of professional specialty workers in the US. In general, information on compensation trends indicates that greater increases in compensation have occurred for workers in service-producing as opposed to goods-producing industries. The increase in service sector jobs has created opportunities for women to enter the labor force and, at present, 5 out of 6 women work in this sector compared to fewer than 2 out of 3 men. Productivity growth rates in the service-producing industries vary substantially and are strongly affected by the business cycle. Central to employment opportunities in the years ahead will be the effect of new technology. To date, the aggregate effect of new technology has been increased employment and higher living standards. Although retraining programs should be in place, the scenario of a huge technology-created labor surplus seems unlikely. In fact, a more likely problem is a shortage of labor resulting from earlier labor force withdrawal and demographic aging of the population. Those in the 25-54-year age group will represent a larger share of the labor force in the years ahead. In addition, blacks are expected to account for 20% of the labor force growth in the next decade. Finally, given increasing labor force participation rates among mothers, employers may have to provide more flexible work schedules, assistance with day care, and more attractive benefits packages.     

Exporting out of poverty: Provincial poverty in Vietnam and U.S. market access

Can a developing country reduce poverty by gaining increased market access to a large, rich country? The 2001 U.S.–Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) provides an excellent opportunity to examine this question as, unlike other bilateral trade agreements, the U.S. tariff cuts were not influenced by Vietnamese industries. Using variation in the structure of the labor force across provinces prior to the trade agreement, I construct provincial measures of U.S. tariffs. To address concerns over confounding trends between changes in provincial poverty and changes in provincial tariffs I follow two approaches: controlling for trends based on observable initial conditions and differencing away time invariant trends using pre-BTA data. I find that provinces that were more exposed to the U.S. tariff cuts experienced faster decreases in poverty between 2002 and 2004. Additionally, I document that the movement of workers across provinces is limited in scale, particularly for those with low levels of education. Finally, I show that the most exposed provinces experienced faster wage growth for workers with low levels of education, but not for highly educated workers.     

基于就业主体视角的农民工就业质量的影响因素研究——以南京市为例

根据"南京市外来农民工劳动权益保障情况调查"数据,从劳动合同的签订、就业的稳定性以及工资水平三个方面,对农民工就业质量的影响因素的实证研究发现:从农民工本身的就业主体角度来看,在受教育程度、职业培训状况以及技能水平等人力资本方面具有优势的农民工,其就业的质量也较高。良好的社会资本有助于增强农民工的工作稳定性,但是对于劳动合同的签订以及工资水平没有显著的、积极的作用。     

Racial differences in self-employment exits

Using detailed work history data in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I investigate the reasons behind the racial gap in self-employment. My analysis of an “age uniform” sample of men, all of whom are observed from age 22 to 40 years, reveals that racial differences in cross-sectional self-employment rates are largely due to the fact that minority workers’ self-employment spells are relatively short-lived. Moreover, I find that minority workers’ relatively high exit rates are driven primarily by transitions to nonemployment. Estimates from a multinomial logit model of self-employment exits suggest that minority workers’ weak attachment to the labor market prior to entering self-employment is an important determinant of their transition from self-employment to nonemployment, while lack of prior industry and self-employment experience contributes to minorities’ transitions to wage employment. When I assign blacks and Hispanics the same (mean) work histories as whites, the predicted black–white gap in the first-year self-employment survival rate decreases by 31% and the Hispanic–white gap decreases by 14%.     

Effort Elicitation,Wage Differentials and Income Distribution in A Wage‐Led Growth Regime

Motivated by the empirical evidence on endogenous labor effort and wage differentials, this paper explores implications for distribution and growth of firms using different strategies to elicit effort from workers. The frequency distribution of effort‐elicitation strategies across firms is governed by a replicator dynamic that generates wage differential as a long‐run equilibrium. Although firms willing to elicit more effort have to compensate workers with a higher wage rate, a larger proportion of firms adopting such strategy will not necessarily produce a higher wage share and thereby a higher growth rate. The intuition is that, depending on the accompanying rise in labor productivity, the wage share may not vary positively with the proportion of firms paying higher wages.     

Trade liberalization and the allocation of labor between households and markets in a poor country

We consider the relationship between relative price changes and the allocation of labor between households and the formal wage labor market in the context of Vietnam's liberalization of its rice trade in the 1990s. Many individuals in poor economies work within their own household rather than in formal labor markets. We find that larger rice price increases in a community are associated with declines in hours adults devote to work within the household and increases in time spent in the wage labor market. We also observe increased specialization in household economic activities accompanying these shifts in hours towards wage work. Our results are consistent with the idea that a growth in the extent of the market shifts production and labor from households to markets during development, thereby inducing gains from specialization. Thus, the reallocation of labor between households and markets in response to a trade liberalization might be an important component in understanding the link between trade and growth in very poor economies, currently the focus of the Doha WTO negotiation round.     

Foreign direct investment and wage differentials in Taiwan

Abstract

The ease of restrictions on foreign direct investment in China since 1990 has attracted a continuous and dramatic flow of outward investment from Taiwan to the mainland. At the same time, the relative wages for skilled workers in Taiwan have risen mildly despite a rapid increase in the share of educated workers in its labor market. The aim of this paper is to explore the linkage between capital outflows to China and the wage share of skilled workers in Taiwan over the period 1991 – 2001. We find that the pattern of changes in relative wages is consistent with shifts in the relative demand for skilled labor. For the most part, the increases in the relative demand for skilled workers could be attributable to within-industry factors. Findings also indicate that outward direct investment to China has a significantly positive impact on the skilled labor wage share.     

Media Portrayal of Voluntary Public Reporting About Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Does Coverage Encourage or Discourage Ethical Management?

Drawing on constructionist theory, this study examines how the media portrayed five public reporting events initiated by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), considering whether the coverage encourages or discourages companies from undertaking a reporting initiative as part of their ethical management. Media coverage was limited but generally favorable across all five events. Coverage frequently included claims made by FLA spokespersons and provided basic facts about the organization and its activities. Extensive detail about labor violations found by monitors was often included. Additional media coverage centered around themes of public reporting and transparency, an assessment of the FLA’s work, brand accountability and responsibility of corporations with regard to working conditions and labor standards, and specifics about the factory monitoring and partnering with factories and NGOs that is necessary to achieve change. Counter-claims brought question to the FLA’s efforts. Explanations about why the social condition exists were fairly limited, and thus, provided little insight into how the problems might be resolved. We discuss managerial implications regarding public reporting initiatives and media coverage, particularly regarding the countering effects of positive coverage and diminishing news stories.