Expanding Childminding Provision in Areas of Deprivation

This paper suggests that Government plans to increase childminding provision in areas of deprivation may be seen as an entrepreneurial opportunity for lone parents in receipt of welfare benefits. But if it is to offer a route out of poverty, they will need integrated, specialist and continuing assistance to negotiate the fragmented systems currently associated with business and personal finances, and to understand the inter-connections between them. The findings from a small-scale feasibility project are presented as the starting point for the development of a recruitment and support strategy which foregrounds the financial aspects of childminding.     

Employment quality index for the South African labour market

ABSTRACT

While the South African government specifically set targets on job creation in its numerous economic strategies since the economic transition, various local studies examined the levels and trends in labour force, employment and unemployment to evaluate if these targets were met. However, the quality of employment has not been thoroughly examined. This is the first local study that fills the existing research gap by deriving a composite, multidimensional employment quality index by taking 18 indicators from seven dimensions into consideration: wage, work hours and flexibility, employment security, income security, social benefits, skills and participation. Using the 2010–16 Quarterly Labour Force Survey data, the empirical findings indicated that highly educated, white male workers aged at least 35 years, who lived in urban areas of the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces, and were involved in high skilled occupations in the formal, public sector enjoyed significantly better employment quality.     

Location Choice and Employment Decisions: A Comparison of German and Swedish Multinationals

Using data on German and Swedish multinational enterprises (MNEs), this paper analyzes determinants of location choice and the degree of substitutability of labor across locations. Countries with highly skilled labor strongly attract German but not necessarily Swedish MNEs. In MNEs from either country, affiliate employment tends to substitute for employment at the parent firm. At the margin, substitutability is the strongest with respect to affiliate employment in Western Europe. A one percent larger wage gap between Germany and locations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is associated with 760 fewer jobs at German parents and 4,620 more jobs at affiliates in CEE. A one percent larger wage gap between Sweden and CEE is associated with 140 fewer jobs at Swedish parents and 260 more jobs at affiliates in CEE. JEL no. F21, F23, J21, J23     

Union effects on performance and employment relations: Evidence from China

This paper empirically studies union effects on the performance of, and employment relations in, China's private enterprises. The study finds a positive and statistically significant union effect on labor productivity, but not on profitability. It further finds that unions lead to better employee benefits and increased contract signing in employment. These findings suggest that, in the era of transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, unions in China's private enterprises do promote workers' interests as unions do in other economies. And they do that without abandoning their traditional role of harmonizing employment relations, as required by the Party.     

转型期就业弱势群体就业困境探讨

就业权是人的基本权利之一。就业弱势群体的存在与市场经济的转型及就业制度中公平、公正的偏移密切相关。解决就业弱势群体的就业问题:一是要建立公平公正的就业制度体系;二是从就业保障方面采取"差异原则",保障就业弱势群体的基本就业权利。     

经济转型影响下的灵活就业制度创新研究

与传统正规就业相比,灵活就业更容易受到宏观经济波动、政府政策等外在因素影响。鉴于灵活就业在我国发展的现状,我国需要重新设计政府、企业、家庭和个人在劳动力市场中的角色,应该以多重思路构建灵活就业的政策体系,坚持就业效益和经济效益相结合。政府要把扶持和激励结合起来,使灵活就业者既得到了政策实惠又不依赖政府。     

价值链分工与发展中国家就业利益及风险分析

目前鲜有对“价值链分工对发展中国家的就业影响”进行系统性研究,尤其关于就业风险方面.此种研究对发展中国家充分利用价值链分工,获取最大就业利益具有重要理论和实践意义.文章利用历史经验分析,提出价值链分工给发展中参与国带来就业数量的增加、就业结构的改善和就业质量的提升等就业利益;但同时,价值链分工也可能带来就业的挤出、对本土竞争企业的人为资本争夺、低成本就业难以持续及就业的外部冲击等风险.     

Housing expenditure and neighbourhood economic development

In low-income neighbourhoods, with limited commercial and industrial development possibilities, the only major local investment opportunities tend to be associated with housing and environmental upgrading. However, when these investments take place the typical experience is that the residents of the area enjoy only limited employment and training benefits from the works carried out. This paper assesses a number of initiatives where serious attempts have been made to secure long-term employment and training gains for local people in association with environmental and housing expenditure programmes in their locality. It shows that modest benefits can be achieved and discusses the longer run potential for such initiatives.     

Work incentives and 'in-work' benefit reforms: a review

In-work benefit reforms seek to reduce poverty and promote employmentamong low-income families. Using evidence from similar policiesin the USA and Canada, this paper reviews the likely impactof recent UK reforms. The focus is on employment and hours.In particular, the paper examines the effectiveness of the newWorking Families Tax Credit in the UK in increasing employmentamong low-income families. It presents evidence suggesting modestincreases in employment for single parents and workerless marriedcouples with children, but with some offsetting reductions inemployment in two-earner couples with young children.     

Employment Creation and Manufactured Exports in Indonesia, 1980–90

One of the most significant effects of the trade and regulatory policy reforms introduced in Indonesia since the mid 1980s has been the growth of manufactured exports, particularly labour-intensive manufactures. The growth of these sectors' exports has in turn generated substantial employment benefits, both directly and through backward linkages. In this paper we estimate the employment effects of the rapid growth in manufactured exports between 1980 and 1990, and compare two subperiods, 1980–85 and 1985–90. In the latter period, employment created by exports of light industries increased dramatically in absolute terms, far exceeding employment created by primary exports.     

Do Multinational Enterprises Relocate Employment to Low-Wage Regions? Evidence from European Multinationals

This paper analyzes the employment behavior of home multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Europe. To this end we use a unique firm-level panel data set of more than 1,000 European multinational parent enterprises and their European affiliates. We find for parent firms operating in the manufacturing sector that the labor cost elasticity of parent employment with respect to North EU affiliates’ labor costs is positive and statistically significant. This implies employment substitution between parents and their North EU based affiliates takes place in response to wage cost differentials between the parent and its North EU based affiliates. In contrast, we find no evidence for such substitution effects between parent employment and its affiliates that are located in low-wage regions in the EU and in Central and Eastern Europe. JEL no. F23, J23     

体制内就业的职业代际流动:家庭背景与学历

文章采用中国居民收入调查（CHIP）2013年城镇住户数据，综合使用Probit和倾向得分匹配法，分析家庭背景对劳动者体制内单位求职的影响。研究发现，家庭背景会显著影响劳动者进入体制内就业的机会，父母双方均在体制内就业的劳动者更可能进入体制内就业，父母均不在体制内就业则更难进入体制内就业；且在男性、女性、高学历和低学历群体中，家庭背景对劳动者进入体制内就业机会的影响都存在。同时，与低学历群体相比，高学历劳动者进入体制内单位就业机会受家庭背景的影响更小，即学历在家庭背景对劳动者就业机会的影响中发挥了一定的替代作用。不断提升体制内单位就业招聘机制的实质性公平及推进高等教育的公平发展，对实现劳动者公平就业具有重要作用。     

Government Policy and Industry Structure in New Zealand, 1900–1970

For much of the twentieth century industry policy in New Zealand has been torn between protecting the consumer while at the same time encouraging the growth of manufacturing. Early policy focused more on consumer welfare but with the Depression emphasis was increasingly placed on stimulating employment through protection and regulation. The Second World War fostered an increase in manufacturing employment that successive postwar governments, faced with balance of payments constraints, were unwilling to sacrifice for the benefits of a freer trade. The resource misallocation that resulted from such policies was subject to increasing criticism as growth rates were seen to falter. In the 1960s steps were taken to return to a more open and deregulated economy.     

Balancing Work and Family Life during the Life Course

This paper discusses how work and family obligations can be better reconciled in EU countries by adopting a life-course perspective. It stresses that longer and deeper involvement in paid employment allows people to exploit their longer life to reconcile the two ambitions of, first, investing in the next generation as a parent and, second, pursuing a fulfilling career in paid work. Greater flexibility of working time over the life course requires more individual responsibility for financing leave. Moreover, rather than shielding older insiders through employment protection, labor-market institutions should enable parents of young children to easily enter and remain in the labor market. Finally, more activating social assistance and in-work benefits should replace passive income support for breadwinners. This paper is a revised draft of a paper prepared for high-level expert conference on the Social Policy Agenda for the European Union on October 28/29 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The author thanks Evert Jan van Asselt, Peter Cuyvers, Henk Don, Bas Jacobs, Ruud de Mooij, Wouter Roorda, Martijn de Wildt and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on earlier drafts, and Peter Cuyvers, Laura Thissen, and Wouter Roorda for research assistance.     

Return on Investment from Training Programs and Intensive Services

This study includes the likelihood of finding a job and retaining employment as well as eligibility for unemployment benefits to estimate the return on investment (ROI) for both job training and intensive services programs. The augmented ROI for job training programs and intensive job services from California One-Stop Centers are positive. This suggests that these programs do provide benefits. The estimated augmented ROI for individuals enrolled in job training programs and intensive job services are similar. In contrast, traditional approaches that omit important employment characteristics significantly overestimate the ROI. Monte Carlo simulations show that changing program costs affect the augmented ROI for training programs but have minimal impact on the augmented ROI for intensive services.     

新业态下青年灵活就业质量研究

为了准确衡量新业态下青年灵活就业质量，采用扎根理论和层次分析法，围绕薪酬福利、工作特征、社会保障、职业发展、工作感受5个维度构建一套评价新灵活就业质量的标准体系。采用该评价体系对206份调查数据进行分析。结果显示，新灵活从业青年就业质量的综合评分为62.3分，其中社会保障54.7分，薪酬水平61.3分，工作特征70.0分，职业发展68.4分，工作感受68.1分。反映出新灵活就业青年存在社会保障严重缺失、薪资收入并不理想、职业发展空间有限、工作幸福程度不高等问题。据此，提出提升青年新灵活就业质量的对策建议。     

Is Informal Job Experience of Youth Undermining their Labor-Market Prospects in Transition Economies?

The objective of the paper is to investigate if previous informal employment experience of youth affects later labor-market outcomes in transition economies. We consider the effects on employment, decent job and wages. Some theories suggest that previous informal job experience may extend informality later and negatively impact decent employment and wages, while others argue that informal jobs may provide training, networks and working attitudes to young workers hence improving their formal employment and wage potential. We rely on the newly-produced School to Work Transition Surveys for seven transition economies of Southeast Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Our results robustly suggest that early informality of youth is negative for the later labor-market outcomes. However, for the wage, there is limited evidence that the negative effect potentially turns positive for long informal job experiences. The negative effect of informal job on later outcomes is stronger for females, while any differences between the two regions of transition economies are neither systematic nor robust.     

Synergies in Labour Market Institutions: the Nonlinear Effect of Minimum Wages on Youth Employment

Empirical evidence on the effect of minimum wages on youth employment is inconclusive, with studies pointing to negative, positive or insignificant effects. In trying to explain some of the conflicting evidence, this research paper examines synergies of minimum wages with other labour market institutions using an unbalanced panel dataset of 19 OECD countries over 1985–2013. Institutions that enforce labour market rigidity, such as unemployment benefits and union density, are found to exacerbate the negative effect of minimum wages on youth employment, while government expenditure on training programmes for the unemployed dampen it. This finding of significant synergy effects indicates that panel data models which omit interactive terms between minimum wages and institutions might be misspecified. In addition, the analysis suggests that the negative effect of minimum wages is most severe in rigid labour markets with high unemployment benefits and union density. Therefore, policymakers need to consider the full spectrum of institutions they face before adjusting minimum wages.     

委托-代理理论的分析应用——以漳州花卉企业雇佣关系为例

本文以代理-理论模型分析框架为基础,研究台资花卉企业与雇佣花农之间的风险分担和利益分成。通过比较信息对称与信息不对称情况下的最优契约,分析不同因素对花卉企业与雇佣花农以及代理成本的影响。考察了写入契约的新观测变量对最优契约设计的影响。利用拓展的模型证明了无法写入契约的代理人额外收入对雇佣花农和花卉企业各自收益的影响。最后引入声誉模型,讨论了利用隐性激励机制解决企业与花农之间道德风险的方法。     

China's transition towards the market: “Socialization” of the safety net

Reform of the state-owned enterprise sector is probably the most strategic area of reform during China's transition towards a market economy. For efficiency improvements to be possible, stateowned enterprises must be able to adjust the size and nature of their operations in response to market signals, adding or shedding workers as necessary. However, given that housing, pensions, and healthcare, among a myriad of social welfare services, are tied to the enterprise, labor mobility is highly constrained. This makes it difficult to reallocate redundant labor across occupations, enterprises, and locations. Clearly, for more efficiently-operating labor markets to emerge, worker access to housing and other welfare benefits must be delinked from employment in the enterprise. This paper discusses the possible ways of breaking the link and strengthening the social safety net. The emphasis here being on the urban sector, issues related to safety net provisions in the rural areas, albeit of great importance, will not be discussed at length.