Local exchange trading systems (LETS) are fast becoming a significant socio‐economic phenomenon. It is held that they represent new forms of work which reduce unemployment. The author discusses LETS in the context of three contributions to the future of work to show that LETS are a neglected phenomenon. He then considers whether these proposals on the future of work offer an alternative to the unemployed. The empirical evidence shows a strong bias towards those people in gainful employment and those who are well‐educated and well‐off. In conclusion the author suggests ways in which this bias may be remedied and measures through which LETS may make a practical contribution to the future of work.
"Die Frage nach den Formen und Bestimmungsfaktoren der Eingliederung der ausländischen Bevölkerung gewinnt mit der dauerhaften Niederlassung der ehemals als 'Gastarbeiter' zugewanderten Gruppen und ihrer Nachkommen zunehmend an Bedeutung. Häufig mangelt es aber an geeigneten Daten, um empirisch fundierte Antworten auf gesellschaftlich vieldiskutierte Fragen zu geben: Wie weit ist die Integration von Personen mit Migrationshintergrund (Migranten) im schulischen und beruflichen Bereich fortgeschritten, und wie lässt sich die Distanz zu den Deutschen gegebenenfalls erklären? Wie ist es um das Interesse und die Partizipation von Migranten im politischen und sozialen Bereich bestellt? Nehmen inter-ethnische Eheschließungen und Freundschaftsbeziehungen zu, und gibt es diesbezüglich Unterschiede zwischen den Nationalitätengruppen? Diese Fragen stellen sich besonders dringlich, wenn es um die 'zweite' oder 'dritte Generation' von Migranten geht, wird doch die Integration oder Segregation dieser Gruppe die Gesellschaft in Deutschland in den nächsten Jahrzehnten entscheidend prägen. Aus diesen Gründen wurde im Juli 2000 der Auftrag zu einer breit angelegten Befragung italienisch- und türkischstämmiger Migranten im Alter von 18 bis 30 Jahre sowie einer deutschen Kontrollgruppe (je ca. 1.200 Befragte) an das Markt- und Meinungsforschungsinstitut BIK Aschpurwis und Behrens, Hamburg, vergeben. Die Erhebungsdaten wurden Ende März 2001 an das BiB geliefert. Bei der Befragung wurden Items über die Lebensverhältnisse, das Verhalten und die Einstellungen erhoben. Im Mittelpunkt standen thematisch die schulische, berufliche, soziale, sprachliche und identifikative Integration; Art und Ausmaß der Kontakte zur ethnischen Community und ihren Einrichtungen; Einstellungen zum Leben in Deutschland und zur politischen Partizipation sowie familiale Lebensbedingungen und Einstellungen. Aufgrund der thematischen Breite des Surveys und der hohen Anzahl an Befragten lassen sich anhand der Daten fundierte Aussagen über die Eingliederungsmuster der untersuchten Gruppen machen." (Textauszug)
"Die Armutsmessung der empirischen Sozialforschung ist von einer Reihe von Annahmen und Setzungen abhängig, die Ausmaß und Struktur der Armutsbevölkerung beeinflussen. Äquivalenzskalen, Ermittlung des mittleren Einkommens als Referenzgröße und die Festlegung von Armutsschwellen führen zu mehr oder weniger großen Unterschieden in den Ergebnissen. Staatliche Transferleistungen als Sicherung gegen Armut definieren davon abweichende Grenzen des sozio-kulturellen Existenzminimums. Mit der Einführung der Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende (SGB II) ist ein umfangreiches Berichtssystem entstanden, dass zeitnah und umfangreicher als bisher über die Entwicklung der sozialstaatlich bekämpften Armut berichtet. Der Aufsatz stellt ein Konzept vor, wie die Verwaltungsdaten aus dem SGB II für Untersuchungen der 'working poor' im Rahmen einer dynamischen Armutsbetrachtung genutzt werden können. Ergebnisse einer Verweildaueranalyse aus den Jahren 2005 und 2006 für die Dauer des Leistungsbezugs bei Beschäftigung werden vorgestellt." (Autorenreferat)
In: Discussion Papers / Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Arbeit, Sozialstruktur und Sozialstaat, Abteilung Arbeitsmarktpolitik und Beschäftigung, Band 2005-107
"Die Arbeitsmärkte von Künstlern sind seit Jahrzehnten durch ein kontinuierliches Wachstum an erwerbstätigen Künstlern gekennzeichnet. Ein differenzierter Blick auf diese Arbeitsmärkte verdeutlicht allerdings die Dimensionen, in denen sich dieses Wachstum bewegt. Im Kultursektor werden abhängige Beschäftigungsverhältnisse abgebaut, unbefristete Stellen werden zugunsten befristeter Beschäftigungsverhältnisse zurückgenommen. Insgesamt geht die abhängige Beschäftigung zugunsten der Selbständigkeit zurück. Die selbständigen Künstler strömen in Deutschland in die Künstlersozialkasse, weshalb diese unter starken finanziellen Druck geraten ist. In diesem Paper wird die Entwicklung der Erwerbstätigkeit von Musikern, darstellenden Künstlern und bildenden Künstlern auf der Basis einer Analyse von Individualdaten (Mikrozensus 2000) seit den achtziger Jahren nachgezeichnet. Dabei werden spezifische Charakteristika der Erwerbsformen, insbesondere der abhängigen Beschäftigungsverhältnisse sowie der Selbständigkeit analysiert und diskutiert. An die deskriptive Datenanalyse schließen sich zwei logistische Regressionen an, anhand derer folgende Fragen beantwortet werden: Welche Faktoren determinieren die Erwerbsformen bei Künstlern? Welche sozialstrukturellen Merkmale beeinflussen das Befristungsrisiko bei den Beschäftigungsverhältnissen von Künstlern?" (Autorenreferat)
It is a common belief that there are substantial returns on education, both direct and indirect and gainful employment is regarded as one of the expected outcomes of education. However, existing analyses of the employment–unemployment trends in India indicate an inverse relationship between women's education and employment. Within such a context this article seeks to raise the question of whether the education system can address the problem of educated women withdrawing from the labour force even as attempts are made to transform other structural factors that impinge on the situation. Feminist concerns about empowerment frame this discussion on education and employment.
Research on young Mexicans tends to focus on their limited educational and occupational opportunities and the increasing extent to which they are not in education, employment, or training (NEET). In this article, we describe the prevalence and determinants of being NEET in Mexico City using data from the National Survey of Occupation and Employment and from forty in-depth interviews. Quantitative findings on the determinants of education and employment in this study are consistent with previous research. Barriers to education for those in NEET include low rates of admission to public universities, economic difficulties, family obligations, and difficulties connecting schooling and future employment. Barriers to employment include a lack of job opportunities, discrimination against inexperienced workers, and the undesirability of low-wage employment. Despite setbacks, respondents expressed a desire to attain education and gainful employment in the future, but many, especially the most educated, were willing to wait for the right university or job.
PurposeA lack of sufficient gainful employment opportunities in developing countries means that those at the bottom of the income ladder resort to self-employment for survival. While self-employment equalises inequality by providing earning opportunities to such individuals due to the ease of entry, it also creates a competitive environment among the self-employed, consequently widening inequality. In light of this, the study aims to determine the optimal level at which self-employment narrows inequality.Design/methodology/approachFive-yearly average data from 72 developing countries covering 2000–2019 is used. Inequality measures include Gini, and self-employment includes total, male and female participation levels. The empirical analysis is based on the dynamic two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approach, two-stage instrumental variables (2 SLS IV) approach and Sasabuchi (1980) and Lind and Mehlum (2010) test. Several robustness checks are used to validate the findings.FindingsPrima facie, the study's findings suggest that self-employment equalises inequality in developing countries. The income-equalising effect can be seen, however, when the total, male and female self-employment levels are below the optimal of 54.22% of total employment, 52.50% of male employment and 54.19% of female employment, respectively. Inequality widens when self-employment exceeds these optimal levels. Further, the income-narrowing effect of self-employment is larger than its income-widening effect. When self-employment is below its optimal level, it reduces inequality 80 times more effectively than when it widens above the optimal levels. The corresponding figures for male and female self-employment are 90 and 52, respectively. Second, the income-equalising effects of self-employment are gender-specific.Practical implicationsDeveloping countries striving to achieve SDG 10 should limit self-employment to the above-mentioned levels. To this end, an inclusive approach to reducing inequality requires these countries to use selective and targeted policy interventions to create gainful employment opportunities for those above the identified optimal levels and eventually assist them in utilising these opportunities.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to determine the optimal levels at which self-employment equalises income in developing countries. As such, it makes novel contributions to both labour and development economics.
AbstractConnections between labour migration and food security of left‐behind households are still poorly understood. Using data from two waves of a longitudinal survey conducted among ever‐married women in rural Mozambique, we employ multi‐level ordered logit and negative binomial regressions to examine over time three possible pathways linking men's migration and its economic success to food security of left‐behind households—agricultural investment, household material assets and women's local gainful employment. Our analyses find a significant positive association between migration's success, proxied by remittances, and food security and show that this association is largely mediated by household's possession of material assets.
Self-employment has been promoted as a path to gainful employment in Finland and elsewhere. But recently there has been increasing concern in Finland about the position of those who are selfemployed, particularly the solo self-employed, who are often insecure, especially in terms of their financial situation. This study discusses the dualisation of labour markets and the intrinsic dimension of financial security among those who are solo self-employed. Using survey data on solo selfemployment in Finland, the study finds that financial insecurity is particularly experienced by solo self-employed people who start a business because of a lack of other employment opportunities.
The alarming rate of employment crisis among the youths is one of the manifestations of insecurity in Nigeria which has negatively eaten deep into developmental project of Nigeria. Youths are generally considered as the bedrock, prime-mover and cornerstone for achieving progressive development in any nations, Once, youths are denied opportunity to gainful employment they easily turn to negative innovations that may be detrimental to nation development. Unemployment as a social milieu will negate socio-political, economic and educational development of the nation. However, average Nigerian goes to sleep at night with one eye closed while other opened which may lead to poor manpower development, physical harassment delinquency, criminal activities, psychological trauma as a result of civil unrest among others. Content systematic method of analysis was adopted in reviewing relevant publications from different search engines such as EMBASE, PDF, Scholarly Google, Scopus, JSTORS to supports the outcome of the inquiry. Social Contract Theory by Auguste Comte, Classical and neo-classical theories by Schumpeter, Boulding, were adopted to justify the causes, consequences and solutions to youths unemployment in Nigeria. On this ground, the following recommendations were made the Nigerian government, philanthropists and Non-governmental organizations should learn more on the value associated with social contract as the main determinant of social development Also, more recreational vocational and formal learning centers should be institutionalized to make room for employment accessibility, flexibility and employability among youths for creativity among others.
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This study analyzes labor market performance in the Philippines from the perspective of workers' welfare. It argues that pervasive in-work poverty is the main challenge facing labor policy. Poverty is primarily due to low earning capacity of the poor and to their limited access to regular and productive jobs. Behind these are the two interrelated root causes of in-work poverty—low education of the poor, and the scarcity of productive job opportunities. The labor market is segmented into "good" and "bad" jobs, with the poor working in the latter. They hold jobs that are informal, temporary or casual, and low-paid. Widespread informality means that the poor neither benefit from the minimum wage policy nor from employment protection legislation. They do not benefit from wage growth either, because their bargaining power is weak. "Good" jobs are so few, especially in rural areas, that even better educated workers are often forced to take unskilled jobs and work as low-paid laborers. The reduction of in-work poverty hinges on removing constraints to gainful employment in both supply side (better education and skills) and demand side (better jobs). It is critical that the young poor have improved access to quality education, and be equipped with skills required in the modern sector of the economy. But in parallel, better jobs need to be created, which can be attained from the growth of the formal and higher value added sector of the economy. The process of structural transformation should be supported by effective labor policy. Labor regulations need to be made simpler and more flexible to facilitate the reallocation of labor from less to more productive activities, and from informal to formal sector. Targeted training programs have the potential to address the problem of low skills among the poor workers, especially the young ones. Such programs should be developed on a pilot basis and expanded if proven to be cost-effective.
