中国与东盟国家建立统一劳工标准的必要性与可行性

劳工待遇问题近年频频见诸国际投资和货物贸易案件当中,东南亚国家正是世界上劳工标准最为低下,劳动待遇和环境最为恶劣的地区之一。中国作为对外贸易大国,其对东盟的投资也大多集中在生产出口欧美国家产品的产业。正确对待东盟国家的劳工标准问题在研究中国对东盟投资战略问题中愈发重要,将直接关系到投资利益是否能实现。因此,文章通过对国际劳工标准的研究,中国与东盟国家劳工标准的对比和分析,讨论如何完善中国与东盟的劳工标准问题以及建立中国—东盟统一劳工标准的可行性。     

国际劳工标准对国际贸易影响及实质

国际劳工标准是处理劳动关系的一些原则、规则，它的范围十分广泛。早在19世纪，美国等国家就开始关注各国国内的劳工标准对国际贸易的影响。从1947年至今，发达国家与发展中国家就OATT／WTO法律框架下应否纳入劳工标准问题的争论从未问断。中国是贸易大国，劳工标准问题不容回避，因此，研究贸易与劳工标准问题对我国无疑具有重大的理论和现实意义。本文拟就国际劳工标准的概念、对国际贸易的影响及实质方面，对国际劳工标准问题进行浅析。     

加入WTO后的劳工标准问题对策

劳工标准问题不但与经济竞争有关,还涉及政治、社会文化等因素,不能简单地否定和抵制。中国加入WTO,应该尽快完善国内的劳动立法,使国内劳动标准逐步与国际接轨;在WTO未来的多边谈判中应该积极争取有利于本国社会经济的持续发展和保持国际竞争优势的解决方案。     

TPP高标准劳工条款趋势对中国员工责任的影响

TPP作为自由化贸易战略,其劳工条款将会对全球经济产生影响。虽然中国的实际国情与TPP等高标准劳工条款要求差距较大,但从中国对国企行为的规制到引入环境和劳工标准等新议题,表明中国追随国际宏观环境的变化趋势。现在TPP的局势虽未明朗,但其高标准劳工条款是国际发展的必然趋势。对比分析TPP劳工条款与现有劳工标准的差异,探讨TPP等高标准劳工条款对中国的员工责任发展的影响,并提出相应的建议。     

劳工标准与高劳动技能资本密集型产品出口——基于不同发展水平国家和不同出口时期的分析

文章基于1981~2011年98个国家的数据,采用多元处理效应模型,将全样本时期分为出口上升期和出口下降期,按照经济发展水平将样本国家划分为高水平发达国家、低水平发达国家、高水平发展中国家、低水平发展中国家,研究了劳工标准在全样本时期、出口上升期和出口下降期对不同发展水平国家高劳动技能资本密集型产品出口的影响。实证发现:劳工标准对不同发展水平国家的高劳动技能资本密集型产品出口的影响不同,在一国由低水平发展中国家→高水平发展中国家→低水平发达国家→高水平发达国家的发展过程中,劳工标准对高劳动技能资本密集型产品出口影响的演进过程为没有影响→促进→促进→抑制。劳工标准对高劳动技能资本密集型产品出口的影响在出口上升期以负向影响为主,下降期以正向影响为主。     

与私营企业劳工标准相关的贸易限制及其对策

劳工标准问题虽然被称为WTO新加坡部长会议的三大新议题之一，但事实上国际社会关于该问题的关注和讨论在GATT时代就已经存在了，发达国家的主张在于借助WTO多边协议的约束力以不符合国际劳工标准为由对来自部分国家的产品实施贸易制裁。虽然目前没有全球统一的国际劳工标准，但我国私营企业劳工标准的实际状况也不容乐观，并由此引发了一些贸易问题。我国在坚持“劳工标准比较优势”主张的同时也应对提高私企劳工标准的实际执行能力采取有效的措施。     

国际劳工标准与贸易制裁问题之争及对我国的启示

在过去的十几年间,发达国家与发展中国家之间一个重要的贸易谈判内容就是劳工标准与国际贸易的关系问题,是否需要在世界范围建立统一的劳工标准体系,是否应该将劳工标准与国际贸易挂钩,甚至通过贸易制裁的方法来监督劳工标准的推行等等,在世界贸易体系中非常具有争议性.对于这些问题,发达国家跟发展中国家政府持有不同意见,专家学者的观点也不尽相同.我国加入WTO之后,一方面,随着国有企业改革的深化,民营企业的进一步发展,以及外资企业规模数量的扩大,国内的劳资关系问题必然比过去更加突出;另一方面,外国政府、企业以及普通消费者开始越来越频繁地用劳工标准来对我国的企业,尤其是出口企业提出要求,将满足一定的劳工标准作为贸易的前提条件.由此可见,国际劳工标准已经成为我国加入WTO之后,一个不得不认真思考和研究的问题.     

劳工标准对中国出口贸易的影响

随着经济全球化的发展,劳工标准在国际贸易中发挥越来越重要的作用。以美国为首的发达国家更是提出将劳工标准与国际贸易直接挂钩,对于主要依靠劳动密集型行业出口的中国,必定会产生一定的影响。文章搜集中国劳动密集型行业的相关数据,对中国劳动密集型行业的出口贸易与劳工标准运用Eviews统计软件采用回归分析方法进行了实证分析。分析的结果表明,中国劳动密集型行业的出口贸易与劳工标准成正相关关系。     

经济全球化与中国——基于国际劳动分工与不平等交换的视角

从国际劳动分工和不平等交换的角度,作者讨论了中国在经济全球化中的地位以及经济全球化对中国的挑战。文章认为,如果把国际劳动分工作为经济全球化的核心内容,经济全球化的结果必然导致一个有中心和有边缘、有主导和有附庸的世界经济体系的产生。在资本、资源、技术和劳力重新组合的国际劳动分工体系的建立过程中,拥有雄厚资金和发达技术的一方将明显地占有优势。经济全球化的核心内容是国际劳动分工体系的建立,国际劳动分工体系又是国际资源与财富分配的基础,而一个国家在国际财富分配中的份额又会影响其国内人民的生活水平,进而影响到国家政局的稳定,所以,如何应对全球化并在国际劳动分工体系中占领一个优势地位对未来中国的发展至关重要。     

跨国公司的劳工权保护问题

在经济全球化的进程中,跨国公司为追逐利益的最大化往往会尽可能地压低劳动成本,严重侵犯劳工的权益。为了保护劳工权,需要跨国公司自身的约束,更需要国家乃至国际社会的引导、规范和监督。     

生产率的测度以及各种生产率的比较

生产率的测度是产出和投入之比。对产出和投入的不同界定而产生的生产率包括：直接劳动生产率、完全劳动生产率、增加值劳动生产率等。本文探讨了完全劳动投入的测度，并比较了这些生产率之间的关系。     

Offshoring and the Elasticity of Labour Demand

This paper examines the impact of offshoring on labour demand and labour demand elasticities for a sample of 40 countries over the period 1995–2009 using the World Input–output Database (WIOD). Estimating the conditional labour demand model we find that offshoring impacts negatively labour demand, and in particular the demand for low- and medium-educated labour, with some evidence indicating that offshoring has tended to increase labour demand elasticities. Of particular interest are results for the subsamples of developed and developing countries. Most notably, we find that the negative effects of offshoring in developed countries are largest for high-educated labour, an outcome which we show is due to the offshoring of developed countries with other developed countries.     

Core Labour Standards and FDI: Friends or Foes? The Case of Child Labour

We test the often-cited hypothesis that high levels of child labour attract foreign investors. Using panel data we show the overall effect which child labour has on foreign direct investment (FDI) to be a (small) negative one. We find strong evidence for the theoretical prediction that child labour deters FDI by slowing down economic development. Weaker evidence is provided for our theoretical prediction that child labour can discourage FDI via its impact on the availability of a skilled labour force in an economy. The data do not indicate that high levels of child labour drive down the factor share of labour, thereby increasing the attractiveness of an economy for foreign investors. JEL no. C33, F23, J82     

The Chinese State Enterprise Sector: Labour Market Reform and the Impact on Male–Female Wage Structure

The paper examines the wage structure in the Chinese state enterprise sector between 1981 and 1987. This period is of particular interest given the introduction of major labour market reforms in China during the early 1980s. In essence the reforms represented a movement away from administratively determined prices towards a market–oriented system combined with a relatively flexible system of labour allocation. The Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition is employed to shed light on the role of changing labour market institutions over the period.
JEL classification : J 31; J 16     

Labour hoarding in Dutch manufacturing industry

Summary Comfronting strong output fluctuations, companies are in no position to adjust their labour volume instantly to the technically efficient level. Because of that, they may find themselves with an internal labour reserve at one moment, and be short of labour at another. This phenomenon is called labour hoarding. In this article we propose a new method for the measurement of labour hoarding and apply it to the Dutch manufacturing industry. The results suggest that in the period 1972 to 1982, labour surpluses in that sector varied between five and fifteen percent of employment. Labour shortages appear to have been minor in the same period. Output uncertainty and real wage costs are supposed to be the main causes of the discrepancy between actual and technically efficient employment. Under this assumption an employment function is derived and fitted. The results are in accordance with the theoretical model on which the employment function was based.The author is attached to the Netherlands Economic Institute, Rotterdam.Based on the author's dissertation,Omvang en oorzaken van labour hoarding, Rotterdam, 1987.     

Labour policy in the plantation islands

This article studies the evolution of labour policy in the context of the political economy of plantation islands. In order to analyse the relationship between labour policy and various institutional factors (social, political and economic), the author discusses the development of the plantation system — its origins based on slavery and indentures, and subsequent changes resulting from problems of cultural pluralism, labour productivity, falling world market prices, and a general process of economic modernization. He concludes with a discussion of the changes in industrial relations and government labour policy which emerged after the Second World War as a result of the changed constitutional status of the islands as well as the population explosion.     

Child Labour: a survey of selected Asian countries

While the African continent has the highest child labour force participation rates, Asia contains the largest pool of child workers. The nature, magnitude and decline in child labour vary sharply between Asian countries. East Asia now has little child labour; however, child labour continues to have a significant presence in South Asia and in parts of Southeast Asia. This paper surveys the literature on child labour in selected Asian countries, paying special attention to its causes and consequences. The evidence presented shows that Asian child labour, especially in South and Southeast Asia, has some common features. For example, the bulk of child labour is in the 10–14 years age group. The phenomenon is largely rural, and child domestic labour constitutes a significant share. The participation rate of Asian children in the 15–17 years age group in economic activities, 48.4 per cent, is the highest in the world. There is a significant gender element in Asian child labour with boys outnumbering girls in economically active work, while the reverse is the case with domestic child labour. A focus of the survey is the empirical findings that provide insights into the policy instruments that may be needed in combating this phenomenon. The survey also discusses some of the important international and national initiatives that have been taken to reduce child labour.     

Utilising a Demand-led Approach in a Local Labour Market

Traditional labour market activation policies have tended to be focused on labour supply and improving the opportunities for new entrants or re-entrants to obtain appropriate paid employment. This emphasis was encouraged in the 1980s and 1990s by shifts in the location and nature of employment (deindustrialisation), growing and persistent levels of unemployment and policy concerns with labour market disadvantage. More recently, the need to ensure international competitiveness, often by minimising local labour costs and enhancing labour flexibility, has been accompanied by a concern amongst employers at the impact of skill shortages. One response has been to shift the policy focus from supply to demand, essentially by seeking to understand the changing nature of local labour demand and by developing appropriate labour market initiatives. This paper analyses the case study provided by a labour market initiative in a regional labour market in New Zealand to assess the utility of such an approach. The Waitakere Employment and Skills Project (WESP) is a collaborative approach to labour demand, involving a number of economic development and local/national government agencies, as well as a university research team (including the author).     

Labour Market Trends and Structures in ASEAN and the East Asian NIEs

The paper reviews the literature on labour markets in the region with special emphasis on the impact of economic growth and structural change on employment and wages. It deals with labour supply trends, employment creation outside agriculture (especially export orientated industrialization and new high-tech industries), labour absorption in agriculture, wage differentials and the functioning of rural and urban labour markets.
The creation of efficient and equitable labour market institutions and labour market flexibility have emerged as dominant issues in the NIEs. In the ASEAN-4, because of concentration of employment in low productivity and low wage jobs and underutilization of labour, the rate of modern sector labour absorption remains the major policy concern.     

Labour Markets in the ASEAN-4 and the NIEs

This paper updates the survey of labour markets in East Asia in APEL 4(2), September 1990. After an introductory section on major economic changes in the region, it describes trends in the labour supply, employment, wages and unemployment. The following sections give an account of developing labour market institutions, industrial relations and government regulation. The last section deals briefly with the impact of the Asian financial crisis.