Global Competitive Pressures,Labour Market and Employment Issues in the Japanese Service Sector

Global competition of products and services leads to rapid changes in the economy, industry and management. Judging from the industrial employment structure in Japan, the lower prices of foreign goods and services will drive the unemployment rate up in the long run. The Japanese economy urgently requires the growth of business and job opportunities, and therefore the role of employment protection legislation should be re-examined from the viewpoint of encouraging business activities. Analysis of the case study shows that managers in the growing service sector have positive attitudes towards employment growth and the expansion of business activities if the following measures are introduced: the deregulation of redundancy dismissals, the introduction of arbitrary work with performance pay, and legislative enforcement against age discrimination for hiring and firing.     

Spatial spillovers and employment growth in the service sector

This article examines the impact of local knowledge spillovers on employment growth in the service sector at both the theoretical and empirical level. It is argued that, in addition to life cycle and tradability effects, spillovers in services are likely to be strongly influenced by distinctive service characteristics and labour-related factors, which impact on the channels through which spillovers are transmitted. Empirical models of employment growth suggest significant differences in spillover effects between industry and services and across public, private, business and personal services. In particular, many services appear to benefit from spillovers arising from a diverse local economy.     

Beyond Employment: An Examination of Modes of Service Provision in a Deprived Neighbourhood

The aim of this article is to show that despite the growth in service employment, the formalisation of services is neither as all-pervasive as such growth .suggests nor is it a natural and inevitable process. Through case study of a deprived neighbourhood, this article finds that the vast majority of service remain informally provided, that it is not the poorest households who acquire the largest proportion o f their services informally and that informal services are not used purely out of economic necessity. Therefore, the predominace of informality is unlikely to be confined to deprived neighbourhoods. The problem, however; given that those who purchase fewest fornal services also acquire fewest informal services, is that iformal modes of provision seem to reinforce rerther than reduce the socio-economic inequalities produrced by employment.     

The GATS and liberalization in a natural-resource rich country

Abstract

We highlight the role of natural resources in countries that use resource revenues to subsidize employment in state-owned services sectors by developing a model of service provision where domestic incumbents and a foreign entrant compete. We find that when natural resource prices have a higher likelihood of increasing, domestic firms control most of the market share but that industry output drops. However, the output of the services industry rises with domestic firms losing market share when natural resource prices are likely to go down. This suggests that a government focused narrowly only on the growth and development of its economy would prefer services liberalization when natural resource prices are likely to be higher.     

服务业能承担转移我国农村剩余劳动力的重任吗

服务业就业比重的提高难用一个统一的理论基础来解释.发达国家服务业就业结构的变迁表明,服务业就业比重的提高实质上是以商务服务业为主的生产者服务业和以教育、医疗卫生业为主的社会服务业就业比重的提高.从目前来看,短期内我国服务业难以承担大规模转移农村剩余劳动力的任务.但通过发展劳动密集型制造业转移农村剩余劳动力不仅是可行的,也是必要的.     

Trade in High-Tech Services

This paper examines the size, scope, and potential implications of trade in high-tech services in the U.S. The results suggest that many service activities are tradable, tradable service activities tend to employ more educated workers and pay higher wages, and high-tech services account for a large share of service activities that are tradable. Service exporters are more prevalent in high-tech industries with larger establishments and higher wages. Within industries, service exporters tend to be larger, pay higher wages, and are more productive. Tradable service activities seem consistent with U.S. comparative advantage and, as a result, less likely to be vulnerable to offshoring. Consistent with this, recent employment growth in tradable service industries is not significantly different than employment growth in non-tradable service industries.     

Extent and distribution of unregistered employment in the service industries in Europe

ABSTRACT

Although a voluminous literature exists on the prevalence of the informal economy, few studies evaluate unregistered employment and none its prevalence and distribution across the service industries. This paper fills that gap. Reporting a 2015 European Working Conditions Survey based on 43,850 face-to-face interviews, the finding is that 7% (1 in 14) of service industry employees have no written contract of employment across the 35 European countries surveyed, although this varies from 34% in Cyprus to 1% in Sweden. A logistic regression analysis at the European level reveals significant associations between the propensity to work with no contract and various individual-, household- and firm-related characteristics, with unregistered employment more prevalent among women, younger people, those with fewer years in education, migrants, those living in households unable to make ends meet, those working in smaller businesses, and the hospitality and household service sectors. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.     

服务业发展循环经济的保障体系研究

服务业是经济持续发展的主要增长点,是缓解就业压力的主渠道。随着一、二产业循环经济的发展,客观上要求为其服务的服务业加快发展循环经济。我国服务业在发展循环经济的过程中,存在着以下问题:发展缓慢、观念落后、内部发展不平衡、自身循环水平低、地区间服务业发展不协调等,而要解决这些问题就必须运用循环经济的理念思想,构建服务业发展循环经济的行政、法律、经济、社会等保障体系。     

Characteristics and Trends in the Israeli Service Economy

Long-term and short-term characteristics of the Israeli service economy are described and analysed. The percentages of service employment in Israel are similar to current ones in developed countries, but a variety of factors make the Israeli case unique. The roots of the Israeli service economy lie in the 1920s when the British established a civil service, while the Jewish population developed the Histadrut, the Jewish Agency, party and municipal services. Meanwhile, the geographical separation between the capital city (Jerusalem), and the largest city (Tel A viv), which became a primate city, encouraged the evolution of services. The constant and very large import of capital, the supply of service-oriented immigrants and the demand for improved health and education services are additional factors. The politicisation of services and bureaucratic activism have a strong impact from a political viewpoint. Altogether, the Israeli service economy has been uniquely structured in an immigration society driven by political rather than economic forces. During the last decade pressures for change have surfaced, due to the development of modern agriculture, manufacturing and domestic consumption. These have increased the finances, insurance and real estate sector, and decreased the dominance of Tel Aviv. The current economic crisis in Israel is interpreted as a crisis of the services.     

Do innovation spillovers impact employment and skill upgrading?

So far, the research on impact of innovation on employment and skills focused on effects within firms and sectors. Little attention was paid to the influence of interlinkages between sectors as a source of employment change. The main contribution of this paper to the field refers to broadening the analysis of innovation impacts to innovation spillovers from vertically linked sectors on firms' employment and skill change in user industries. The empirical analysis conclusively demonstrates an important role of innovation spillovers in the economy. Firms' employment growth is shown to benefit significantly from spillovers of product innovations in manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. Similarly, firms that are subject to increased spillovers of product innovations as well as marketing and organisational innovations are more likely to upgrade their skill composition. Conversely, employment growth and skill composition of firms seem to be negatively affected by spillovers of process innovations in vertically linked sectors.     

Beyond formal retailing and consumer services: an examination of how households acquire goods and services

The aim of this paper is to show that the acquisition of goods and services through formal firms is less widespread than might be expected. Drawing upon empirical evidence from a deprived neighbourhood, this paper finds that a large proportion of goods and services are informally acquired. In the realm of goods acquisition, informalisation is normally a result of economic necessity and is the first option but second choice of households. In the sphere of consumer services, however, informal modes of provision are often preferred by households and actively chosen over formal consumer services. The implications of these findings for how households acquire goods and services in the wider society are then considered so as to start to open up a debate on the consequences of informality in retailing and consumer services.     

Migrants’ Remittances and Financial Development: Macro‐ and Micro‐Level Evidence of a Perverse Relationship

Financial development is commonly identified as an important condition for fostering investment and economic growth. It is also believed that migrants’ remittances stimulate financial development in the receiving economy, contributing indirectly to economic growth. We explore the relationship between remittances and financial development using macro‐ and micro‐level data. From cross‐country panel data, we find evidence of a negative relationship between remittances and financial deepening in developing countries. Using household survey data from a study of migrants’ remittances in two CIS countries, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, we also investigate the relationship between remittances, financial intermediation and ‘financial literacy’ among remittance‐receiving households. While we find some evidence of a positive, albeit weak, relationship for Kyrgyzstan, in Azerbaijan, the relatively more financially developed economy, we uncover a strong perverse relationship. Remittances appear to deter bank intermediation and use of formal banking services. Possible reasons are explored and areas for further investigation identified.     

A pragmatic service typology: capturing the distinctive dynamics of services in time and space

Many service classifications have provided helpful yet partial perspectives on the heterogeneity of services. This paper reconciles and integrates different earlier classifications into a new holistic typology of the service economy which is based on detailed statistical service sectors. Moreover, the paper assesses the empirical value of this taxonomy to capture the diversity of services development in time and space. A regional analysis of employment data in Germany provides evidence that knowledge intensive as well as business services follow very different sectoral and spatial dynamics than operational and consumer services. This typology yields differential insights in longitudinal and comparative regional analysis of the service economy.     

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.     

生产性服务业发展趋势及其内在机制——基于典型国家数据的实证分析

通过分析典型国家的数据,描述了生产性服务业的发展趋势以及该趋势形成的内在机理。生产性服务业的增加值和就业比重均在不断上升,但前者上升幅度较后者大,这是因为生产性服务业的相对劳动生产率也在不断提高。生产性服务业不断发展壮大是源于其强大的产业关联效应,尤其是前向的产业关联效应。     

EXPLAINING ASYMMETRY IN THE U.S. MERCHANDISE AND SERVICE ACCOUNT BALANCE: Does the Service Sector Hold the Key to the U.S. Current Account Woes?

The U.S. economy has experienced two noteworthy structural changes in recent years. Externally, there has been a growing deficit in the merchandise account along with a simultaneously rising service account surplus. And domestically, the GDP share of the service sectors has been growing at a faster rate relative to the goods sectors. The objective of this article is to test the proposition that much of the asymmetry in the relative performance of the merchandise and the service accounts can be explained (1) in terms of income and price elasticity differentials and (2) in terms of relative growth of the service sectors. Results from estimated import and export demand functions for merchandise and service trades and from sectoral analysis of the U.S. economy seem to support the above proposition. The main policy implications are that: (1) domestically, the United States should facilitate current sectoral transformation by eliminating market distortions and rigidities and (2) externally, it should expand on the initiatives taken during the Uruguay Round and drive the WTO toward a full liberalization of trade in services.     

The Hotel and Catering Industry: Employment Update

Family consumption is one of the main factors explaining the growth of the service economy. This article first describes service consumption trends in Spanish households between 1980 and 1997, both at an aggregated and category level, and analyses differences by family type. In addition, an econometric model based on the Heckman two-step multivariate procedure is used to estimate how socio-economic factors affect service consumption. In particular, attention is paid to household income, human capital, female labour conditions and vital cycle. Hypotheses are founded on household production theories. Information came from microdata of Spanish family budget surveys. Results show that household income is not the sole significant factor explaining service consumption. An outstanding and positive relationship is identified between female labour conditions and use of time-saving services.     

对我国就业增长与经济增长关系的思索

目前,我国的就业增长与经济增长并没有呈现一致性。这并不完全是经济增长的带动作用减弱,而是影响就业增长其他因素的负效应抵消了经济增长对就业增长的部分贡献,也有经济体制改革、技术进步、宏观政策等因素。应采取增加劳务输出和扩大劳动密集型产品在对外贸易中的比重、大力发展第三产业、调整宏观经济政策的单纯GDP取向、完善劳动力市场等措施,实现经济与就业一致性增长。     

Knowledge-intensive business services in transition economies

Knowledge-intensive business services accounted for a rapid growth in transition economies after 1989. The growth in value added outpaced growth in employment, which indicated increasing labour productivity in this sector. Studies based on input–output tables found that development of business services was closely related to development of communication services in advanced EU member countries. The input–output analysis did not confirm this relation for Slovakia and the Czech Republic and found a medium to strong level of correlation for Hungary. Development of a market economy was likely to be a major factor behind development of business services. This assumption was tested on empirical data. The use of communication and business services could be a proxy for introduction of new technologies in production functions. The functions indicated that these industries made a significant contribution to economic growth both in advanced and transition economies. Output elasticity coefficients were quite similar in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia and the EU member countries.     

In search of leisure time: An endogenous growth model with leisure services

Starting from the Ladrón‐de Guevara et al.’s framework, we develop a model with an additional sector for the production of leisure services. By introducing consumption of leisure services as a time‐consuming activity, our model generalizes the standard time allocation problem whereby total available time can be allocated between work, education, free time and leisure activities. We analytically characterize the balanced growth paths of the model, particularly in terms of time allocation and growth. Our comparative analysis of different service economies assumed at equilibrium includes the case of an industrial economy without a service sector and the potential multiple equilibria of such an economy.