Economic Transition and Labor Market Reform in China


Book Description

This book empirically investigates the changes in labor market structure accompanying the labor market reform in China by focusing on the labor market segmentation problems from the 1980s to 2013. The book also aims to examine the effect of labor policy reforms on individual, household and enterprise behavior, including the causes and consequences of labor market reform in China, particularly the influences of labor policy reforms on labor market performance. Offering valuable insights into the changing structure of the Chinese economy, this book will be of interest to scholars, activists, and economists.




Labor Market Performance in Transition


Book Description

More than a decade after the start of the transition process, unemployment rates remain in the double digits in a number of Central and Eastern European countries. That unemployment rates have failed to decline, even in countries experiencing good growth, is puzzling. In this paper the authors examine three interrelated questions: How has the transition from central planning to market economies affected labor market performance? How have labor market institutions and policies influenced developments? Why have regional differences in unemployment persisted? The authors take an eclectic methodological approach: construction of a new data set and a simple analytical model; econometric estimation; and case studies. They find that faster-performing countries have better unemployment records; that labor market policies have some, but not dominant, influence over labor market outcomes; that policies not typically viewed as labor market policies can nevertheless significantly affect labor markets; and that market processes cannot be relied on to eliminate regional differences in unemployment.




Making the Transition


Book Description

After the breakdown of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, the role of education systems in preparing students for the "real world" changed. Though young people were freed from coercive state institutions, the shift to capitalism made the transition from school to work much more precarious and increased inequality in early career outcomes. This volume provides the first large-scale analysis of the impact social transformation has had on young people in their transition from school to work in Central and Eastern European countries. Written by local experts, the book examines the process for those entering the workforce under socialism, during the turbulent transformation years, in the early 2000s, and today. It considers both the risks and opportunities that have emerged, and reveals how they are distributed across social groups. Only by studying these changes can we better understand the long-term impact of socialism and post-socialist transformation on the problems young people in this part of the world are facing today.




Jobs for Growth


Book Description




Wage Dispersion


Book Description

A theoretical and empirical examination of wage differentials findsthat traditional theories of competition do not explain why workers with identical skills are paid differently.




Labor Market Developments During Economic Transition


Book Description

"The paper reviews labor market developments in the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia. It argues that the scarcity of productive job opportunities and the growing labor market segmentation are the two main labor market problems facing the transition economies. In the European transition economies the lack of jobs has led to persistent open unemployment. In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) it has led to hidden unemployment (underemployment and low productivity employment). Unemployment in the European transition economies is supported by the developed social safety net. In contrast, in the CIS for most workers unemployment is not an affordable option. They either stick to their old, unproductive jobs in unrestructured enterprises, or work in the informal sector, or resort to subsistence agriculture. Thus, underemployment in the CIS is a mirror image of unemployment in the European transition economies. Accordingly, the high employment-to-population ratios in many CIS countries do not necessarily signify favorable labor market performance. Instead they often indicate delayed enterprise restructuring, the maintenance of unsustainable jobs in uncompetitive firms, and the existence of a large informal sector as an employer of last resort. Labor market segmentation has been caused by a sharp increase in earnings differentials and the attendant increase in the incidence of low-paid jobs, by the polarization of regional labor market conditions, and finally by the growth of the informal sector offering casual, low-productivity jobs. Labor market segmentation and accompanying inequalities are more pronounced in the CIS than in the European transition economies. "--World Bank web site.




Young People and Contradictions of Inclusion


Book Description

Using a biographical approach, this book:·[vbTab]integrates the perspectives of social policy, sociology, youth and transition research, and education and labour market research;·[vbTab]compares policy and practice in a variety of European national contexts;·[vbTab]explores the dilemmas of policies for the inclusion of young people;·[vbTab]suggests that a holistic Integrated Transition Policy, which puts young people's subjective experience at its centre, can provide an alternative to current policies and practice; This book is aimed at academics and students in social policy, sociology, education, economics and political science who are interested in policy analysis with regard to young people. The overview of recent trends also makes it relevant for practitioners and policy makers in the field.




Universities and the Labour Market


Book Description

Debate surrounding the employability of graduates has been around for many decades, and interest in this area has grown particularly since the start of this century. Tackling this relevant area of scholarship, this book uses an innovative approach to analyse the relationship between the university and the labour market from different perspectives, taking into account both sociological and economic theories. Key areas explored include work transition, graduate employability, and the effects of public interventions/initiatives which are aimed at matching the competences of graduates to labour market needs. The chapters summarise several years of author original research, including study on the employability of graduates in Poland more specifically, and the effects of their public interventions to increase graduate employment and facilitate entry into the workforce (e.g. Commissioned Fields of Study, Competences Development Programme). More generally, university – labour market relations are analysed from three perspectives: micro (understood as individual characteristics shaping educational and occupational choices and decisions), and meso and macro (e.g. features of the education system and such as the strength of the signal sent by HE diplomas; the macroeconomic situation and the condition of the labour market and the state of debate on general and employability competences and its implications). The conclusions made are pertinent given ongoing debates around graduate mismatch in the labour market, as well as the questioning of tuition fees and the role of the university in society more broadly. The interdisciplinary nature of this book makes it of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of sociology, economy, public policy, and also to practitioners designing educational interventions themselves.




Studies of Labor Market Intermediation


Book Description

From the traditional craft hiring hall to the Web site Monster.com, a multitude of institutions exist to facilitate the matching of workers with firms. The diversity of such Labor Market Intermediaries (LMIs) encompasses criminal records providers, public employment offices, labor unions, temporary help agencies, and centralized medical residency matches. Studies of Labor Market Intermediation analyzes how these third-party actors intercede where workers and firms meet, thereby aiding, impeding, and, in some cases, exploiting the matching process. By building a conceptual foundation for analyzing the roles that these understudied economic actors serve in the labor market, this volume develops both a qualitative and quantitative sense of their significance to market operation and worker welfare. Cross-national in scope, Studies of Labor Market Intermediation is distinctive in coalescing research on a set of market institutions that are typically treated as isolated entities, thus setting a research agenda for analyzing the changing shape of employment in an era of rapid globalization and technological change.




Do Active Labor Market Policies Increase Employment?


Book Description

Using panel data for 15 industrial countries, active labor market policies (ALMPs) are shown to have raised employment rates in the business sector in the 1990s, after controlling for many institutions, country-specific effects, and economic variables. Among such policies, direct subsidies to job creation were the most effective. ALMPs also affected employment rates by reducing real wages below levels allowed by technological growth, changes in the unemployment rate, and institutional and other economic factors. However, part of this wage moderation may be linked to a composition effect because policies were targeted to low-paid individuals. Whether ALMPs are cost-effective from a budgetary perspective remains to be determined, but they are certainly not substitutes for comprehensive institutional reforms.