Zitatform

Gelepithis, Margarita & Anne-Marie Jeannet (2018): The political consequences of outsider labour market status in the United States. A micro-level study. In: Social policy and administration, Jg. 52, H. 5, S. 1019-1042. DOI:10.1111/spol.12277

Abstract

"This article contributes to recent research that seeks to understand the political consequences of 'outsider' labour market status. There is an emerging consensus that labour market outsiders have systematically different policy preferences and display systematically different political behaviour to securely employed 'insiders' in Europe. Yet the political consequences of outsider status in the USA are less clear. They may be expected to differ from those that have been documented in the European context, because: (1) the USA is characterized by low employment protection of insiders; and (2) there is evidence that Americans are more reluctant than Europeans to hold governments responsible for personal economic hardship. We therefore use the General Social Survey to examine how outsider labour market status is related to voting behaviour and to social policy preferences in the USA. We find that the concept of 'labour market outsider' - as conventionally operationalized - holds little explanatory power in the American context. Disaggregating the outsider category, our results suggest that the political consequences of outsider labour market status may be contingent on individual beliefs about government responsibility." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

Zitatform

Haines, Victor Y. III, Pascall Doray-Demers & Vivianne Martin (2018): Good, bad, and not so sad part-time employment. In: Journal of vocational behavior, Jg. 104, H. February, S. 128-140. DOI:10.1016/j.jvb.2017.10.007

Abstract

"With increases in part-time employment, the need to understand its diverse forms is growing. The aim of this study is to develop a typology of part-time employment on the basis of role occupancy and work characteristics. Latent class analysis was applied to data from a sample of 1826 part-time workers. The pattern of conditional probabilities suggests four types of part-time employment: Good, bad, student, and transition. Further analysis indicates that gender, age, education, seniority, and work experience are correlates of being in one or other types of part-time employment. Finally, good part-time employment is associated with higher job satisfaction and health although better health is reported in student part-time employment." (Author's abstract, © 2018 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Kalleberg, Arne L. & Stephen P. Vallas (Hrsg.) (2018): Precarious work. (Research in the sociology of work 31), Bingley: Emerald, 466 S.

Abstract

"This volume presents original theory and research on precarious work in various parts of the world, identifying its social, political and economic origins, its manifestations in the USA, Europe, Asia, and the Global South, and its consequences for personal and family life.
In the past quarter century, the nature of paid employment has undergone a dramatic change due to globalization, rapid technological change, the decline of the power of workers in favor of employers, and the spread of neoliberalism. Jobs have become far more insecure and uncertain, with workers bearing the risks of employment as opposed to employers or the government. This trend towards precarious work has engulfed virtually all advanced capitalist nations, but unevenly so, while countries in the Global South continue to experience precarious conditions of work.
This title examines theories of precarious work; cross-national variations in its features; racial and gender differences in exposure to precarious work; and the policy alternatives that might protect workers from undue risk. The chapters utilize a variety of methods, both quantitative statistical analyses and careful qualitative case studies. This volume will be a valuable resource that constitutes required reading for scholars, activists, labor leaders, and policy makers concerned with the future of work under contemporary capitalism." (Publisher information, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Pullmann, Ashley (2018): Gendered pathways from school to work: The association between field of study and non-standard employment outcomes in Canada. In: Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Jg. 58, H. December, S. 44-53. DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2018.10.001

Zitatform

Starzmann, Maria Theresia (2018): Das Elend des Wissensprekariat. In: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, Jg. 63, H. 10, S. 105-112.

Abstract

Die Autorin setzt sich kritisch mit der zunehmenden Gewinnorientierung deutscher und amerikanischer Universitäten auseinander, die sich auch im Umgang mit ihren Beschäftigten zeigt. Die Lehrtätigkeit wird immer weiter in sogenannte Gigs ausgelagert: 'befristete Verträge, Teilzeitjobs und Werkverträge, die hierarchisch verwaltet werden. Das führt nicht nur zu einer immer weiteren Spreizung zwischen Verwaltungs- und Lehrstellen, sondern auch zu einer neuen Form der Ausbeutung kognitiver Arbeit'. Bei immer weiter steigenden Studiengebühren sinkt die Qualität des Studiums. Die akademischen Arbeitsbedingungen sind gekennzeichnet durch Entgrenzung, Prekarität, Konkurrenz und Vereinzelung. Viele Akademiker sind daher mutlos und 'zu erschöpft für den Arbeitskampf'. Die Autorin konstatiert einen 'völligen Mangel an Solidarität' unter den Akademikern. Sie plädiert abschließend für die Organisation von Akademikern in Gewerkschaften, Vereinen und Arbeitsgruppen zur Durchsetzung ihrer Interessen und zur Verbesserung ihrer Arbeitsbedingungen. (IAB)

Zitatform

Taylor, Stephanie & Susan Luckman (Hrsg.) (2018): The new normal of working lives. Critical studies in contemporary work and employment. (Dynamics of virtual work), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 356 S. DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-66038-7

Abstract

"This critical, international and interdisciplinary edited collection investigates the new normal of work and employment, presenting research on the experience of the workers themselves. The collection explores the formation of contemporary worker subjects, and the privilege or disadvantage in play around gender, class, age and national location within the global workforce.
Organised around the three areas of: creative working, digital working lives, and transitions and transformations, its fifteen chapters examine in detail the emerging norms of work and work activities in a range of occupations and locations. It also investigates the coping strategies adopted by workers to manage novel difficulties and life circumstances, and their understandings of the possibilities, trajectories, mobilities, identities and potential rewards of their work situations." (Publisher information, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Inhalt: Stephanie Taylor, Susan Luckman Collection Introduction: The 'New Normal' of Working Lives (1-15);
Part I Creative Working ;
Susan Luckman, Jane Andrew: Online Selling and the Growth of Home-Based Craft Micro-enterprise: The 'New Normal' of Women's Self-(under)Employment (19-39);
Ana Alacovska: Hope Labour Revisited: Post-socialist Creative Workers and Their Methods of Hope (41-63);
Karen Cross: From Visual Discipline to Love-Work: The Feminising of Photographic Expertise in the Age of Social Media (65-85);
Frédérick Harry Pitts: Creative Labour, Before and After 'Going Freelance': Contextual Factors and Coalition-Building Practices (87-107);
Frédérik Lesage: Searching, Sorting, and Managing Glut: Media Software Inscription Strategies for 'Being Creative' (109-126);
Part II Digital Working Lives ;
Katariina Mäkinen: Negotiating the Intimate and the Professional in Mom Blogging (129-146);
Daniel Ashton, Karen Patel: Vlogging Careers: Everyday Expertise, Collaboration and Authenticity (147-169);
Johanna Koroma, Matti Vartiainen: From Presence to Multipresence: Mobile Knowledge Workers' Densified Hours (171-200);
Iva Josefssonn: Affectual Demands and the Creative Worker: Experiencing Selves and Emotions in the Creative Organisation (201-217);
Silvia Ivaldi, Ivana Pais, Giuseppe Scaratti: Coworking(s) in the Plural: Coworking Spaces and New Ways of Managing (219-241);
Part III Transitions and Transformations ;
Kori Allan: 'Investment in Me': Uncertain Futures and Debt in the Intern Economy (245-263);
Hanna-Mari Ikonen: Letting Them Get Close: Entrepreneurial Work and the New Normal (265-283);
Elin Vadelius: Self-Employment in Elderly Care: A Way to Self-Fulfilment or Self-Exploitation for Professionals? (285-308);
Ingrid Biese, Marta Choroszewicz: Creating Alternative Solutions for Work: Expertences of Women Managers and Lawyers in Poland and the USA (309-325);
Stephanie Taylor: Beyond Work? New Expectations and Aspirations (327-345).

Zitatform

Hanson, Gordon, Chen Liu & Craig McIntosh (2017): The rise and fall of U.S. low-skilled immigration. In: Brookings Papers on Economic Activity H. Spring, S. 83-168.

Abstract

"From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the United States experienced an epochal wave of low-skilled immigration. Since the Great Recession, however, U.S. borders have become a far less active place when it comes to the net arrival of foreign workers. The number of undocumented immigrants has declined in absolute terms, while the overall population of low-skilled, foreign-born workers has remained stable. We examine how the scale and composition of low-skilled immigration in the United States have evolved over time, and how relative income growth and demographic shifts in the Western Hemisphere have contributed to the recent immigration slowdown. Because major source countries for U.S. immigration are now seeing and will continue to see weak growth of the labor supply relative to the United States, future immigration rates of young, low-skilled workers appear unlikely to rebound, whether or not U.S. immigration policies tighten further." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Hyatt, Henry R. & James R. Spletzer (2017): The recent decline of single quarter jobs. In: Labour economics, Jg. 46, H. June, S. 166-176. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2016.10.001

Abstract

"Rates of hiring and job separation fell by as much as a third in the U.S. between the late 1990s and the early 2010s. Half of this decline is associated with the declining incidence of jobs that start and end in the same calendar quarter, employment events that we call 'single quarter jobs.' We investigate this unique subset of jobs and its decline using matched employer-employee data for the years 1996 - 2012. We characterize the worker demographics and employer characteristics of single quarter jobs, and demonstrate that changes over time in workforce and employer composition explain little of the decline in these jobs. We find that the decline in these jobs accounts for about a third of the decline in the fraction of the population that holds a job in the private sector that occurred from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s. We also find little evidence that single quarter jobs are stepping stones into longer-term employment. Finally, we show that the inclusion or exclusion of these single quarter jobs creates divergent trends in average earnings and the dispersion of earnings for the years 1996 - 2012. To the extent that administrative records measure the volatile tail of the employment distribution better than conventional household surveys, these findings show that measurement of short duration jobs matters for economic analysis." (Author's abstract, © 2017 Elsevier) ((en))

Zitatform

Ovetz, Robert (2017): Click to save and return to course: online education, adjunctification, and the disciplining of academic labour. In: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation, Jg. 11, H. 1, S. 48-70. DOI:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.11.1.0048

Abstract

"There has been little analysis of how neoliberal adjunctification and online education (OLE) are shaping a new academic division of labour in US colleges and universities. OLE rationalises academic labour by separating it from the delivery of educational content while transforming learning into the self-disciplined completion of sequential tasks (e.g. 'competency-based learning') under the panoptic surveillance of online course management systems (CMS). OLE is subtly shifting the very hidden curriculum of higher education to meet the needs of global capital for a more effectively disciplined labour force that can work contingently and remotely with little or no overt coercion. This analysis of the process by which OLE is rationalising academic labour draws upon the ideas of Foucault and Tronti to argue that OLE is a tool for producing a type of disciplined labour that breaks down the borders between productive and reproductive labour in order to colonise all life as work." (Author's abstract, © Pluto Journals Ltd.) ((en))

Zitatform

Antecol, Heather, Kelly Bedard & Jenna Stearns (2016): Equal but inequitable. Who benefits from gender-neutral tenure clock stopping policies? (IZA discussion paper 9904), Bonn, 41 S.

Abstract

"Many skilled professional occupations are characterized by an early period of intensive skill accumulation and career establishment. Examples include law firm associates, surgical residents, and untenured faculty at research-intensive universities. High female exit rates are sometimes blamed on the inability of new mothers to survive the sustained negative productivity shock associated with childbearing and early childrearing in these environments. Gender-neutral family policies have been adopted in some professions in an attempt to 'level the playing field.' The gender-neutral tenure clock stopping policies adopted by the majority of research-intensive universities in the United States in recent decades are an excellent example. But to date, there is no empirical evidence showing that these policies help women. Using a unique data set on the universe of assistant professor hires at top-50 economics departments from 1985-2004, we show that the adoption of gender-neutral tenure clock stopping policies substantially reduced female tenure rates while substantially increasing male tenure rates." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Borowczyk-Martins, Daniel & Etienne Lalé (2016): How bad is involuntary part-time work? (IZA discussion paper 9775), Bonn, 55 S.

Abstract

"We use a set of empirical and analytical tools to conduct parallel analyses of involuntary part-time work and unemployment in the U.S. labor market. In the empirical analysis, we document that the similar cyclical behavior of involuntary part-time work and unemployment masks major differences in the underlying dynamics. Unlike unemployment, variations in involuntary part-time work are mostly explained by its interaction with full-time employment, and since the Great Recession employed workers are at a greater risk of working part-time involuntarily than being unemployed. In the theoretical analysis, we show that the higher probability of regaining full-time employment is key to distinguish involuntary part-time work from unemployment from a worker's perspective. We also quantify the welfare costs of cyclical fluctuations in involuntary part-time work, and the amplification of these costs arising from the elevated levels of involuntary part-time work observed since the Great Recession." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Edisis, Adrienne T. (2016): The effect of unemployment insurance on temporary help services employment. In: Journal of labor research, Jg. 37, H. 4, S. 484-503. DOI:10.1007/s12122-016-9236-1

Abstract

"A model with fixed effects and controls for state-specific linear time trends is developed to analyze the influence of state unemployment insurance taxes on temporary help services employment using state level panel data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Prior research has shown that imperfect experience rating of unemployment insurance taxes increases temporary layoffs and that, conversely, more extensive experience rating leads to a decrease in temporary layoffs. The current analysis demonstrates that more extensive experience rating increases temporary help services agency-intermediated temporary employment. To the extent that the increase in temporary help services employment represents a substitution of temporary help services jobs for traditional direct hire jobs, it implies a negative effect on job quality. Steps to address low unemployment insurance recipiency rates by temporary help services workers may alleviate the impact of unemployment insurance tax structures on temporary help services employment." (Author's abstract, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Zitatform

Katz, Lawrence F. & Alan B. Krueger (2016): The rise and nature of alternative work arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015. (NBER working paper 22667), Cambrige, Mass., 47 S. DOI:10.3386/w22667

Abstract

"To monitor trends in alternative work arrangements, we conducted a version of the Contingent Worker Survey as part of the RAND American Life Panel in late 2015. The findings point to a significant rise in the incidence of alternative work arrangements in the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2015. The percentage of workers engaged in alternative work arrangements - defined as temporary help agency workers, on-call workers, contract workers, and independent contractors or freelancers - rose from 10.7 percent in February 2005 to 15.8 percent in late 2015. The percentage of workers hired out through contract companies showed the largest rise, increasing from 1.4 percent in 2005 to 3.1 percent in 2015. Workers who provide services through online intermediaries, such as Uber or Task Rabbit, accounted for 0.5 percent of all workers in 2015. About twice as many workers selling goods or services directly to customers reported finding customers through offline intermediaries than through online intermediaries." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Looney, Adam & Day Manoli (2016): Are there returns to experience at low-skill jobs? Evidence from single mothers in the United States over the 1990s. (Upjohn Institute working paper 255), Kalamazoo, Mich., 55 S. DOI:10.17848/wp16-255

Abstract

"Policy changes in the United States in the 1990s resulted in sizable increases in employment rates of single mothers. We show that this increase led to a large and abrupt increase in work experience for single mothers with young children. We then examine the economic return to this increase in experience for affected single mothers. Despite the increases in experience, single mothers' real wages and employment have remained relatively unchanged. The empirical analysis suggests that an additional year of experience increases single mothers' wage rates by less than 2 percent, a percentage lower than previous estimates in the literature." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Pedulla, David S. (2016): Penalized or protected? Gender and the consequences of nonstandard and mismatched employment histories. In: American Sociological Review, Jg. 81, H. 2, S. 262-289. DOI:10.1177/0003122416630982

Abstract

"Millions of workers are employed in positions that deviate from the full-time, standard employment relationship or work in jobs that are mismatched with their skills, education, or experience. Yet, little is known about how employers evaluate workers who have experienced these employment arrangements, limiting our knowledge about how part-time work, temporary agency employment, and skills underutilization affect workers' labor market opportunities. Drawing on original field and survey experiment data, I examine three questions: (1) What are the consequences of having a nonstandard or mismatched employment history for workers' labor market opportunities? (2) Are the effects of nonstandard or mismatched employment histories different for men and women? and (3) What are the mechanisms linking nonstandard or mismatched employment histories to labor market outcomes? The field experiment shows that skills underutilization is as scarring for workers as a year of unemployment, but that there are limited penalties for workers with histories of temporary agency employment. Additionally, although men are penalized for part-time employment histories, women face no penalty for part-time work. The survey experiment reveals that employers' perceptions of workers' competence and commitment mediate these effects. These findings shed light on the consequences of changing employment relations for the distribution of labor market opportunities in the 'new economy.'" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Eichhorst, Werner & Paul Marx (Hrsg.) (2015): Non-standard employment in post-industrial labour markets. An occupational perspective. Cheltenham: Elgar, 435 S. DOI:10.4337/9781781001721

Abstract

"Examining the occupational variation within non-standard employment, this book combines case studies and comparative writing to illustrate how and why alternative occupational employment patterns are formed.
Non-standard employment has grown significantly in most developed economies, varying between countries. Different institutional settings have been deemed accountable for this variation, although inadequate consideration has been given to differences within national labour markets. Through an occupational perspective, this book contends that patterns of non-standard employment are shaped by flexibility in hiring and firing practices and the dispensability of workers' skills. The framework integrates explanations based on labour market regulation, industrial relations and skill supply, filling the gaps in previous scholastic research." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Fuller, Sylvia & Natasha Stecy-Hildebrandt (2015): Career pathways for temporary workers. Exploring heterogeneous mobility dynamics with sequence analysis. In: Social science research, Jg. 50, H. March, S. 76-99. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.11.003

Abstract

"Because temporary jobs are time-delimited, their implications for workers' economic security depend not only on their current characteristics, but also their place in longer-term patterns of mobility. Past research has typically asked whether temporary jobs are a bridge to better employment or trap workers in ongoing insecurity, investigating this question by analyzing single transitions. We demonstrate that this approach is ill-suited to assessing the often more complex and turbulent employment patterns characteristic of temporary workers. Our analysis instead employs sequence methods to compare a representative sample of temporary workers' month-by-month mobility patterns through 8 potential (non)employment states over five years. We derive a typology of trajectories and describe their relative precariousness in relation to employment stability and wage and earnings levels and growth. While some of the pathways correspond quite closely to frameworks used by past research, others reveal new and important distinctions. Multinomial logit models reveal job, employer, and worker characteristics associated with different pathways. Age, gender, and type of temporary work stand out as important factors shaping subsequent mobility patterns." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Hatton, Erin (2015): Work beyond the bounds. A boundary analysis of the fragmentation of work. In: Work, employment and society, Jg. 29, H. 6, S. 1007-1018. DOI:10.1177/0950017014568141

Abstract

"Scholars have examined many different types of labour, including 'nonmarket', 'informal' and 'underground' work. Such studies elucidate the conditions and consequences for workers in these jobs, while also generally accepting as unproblematic the basic distinctions between such categories of labour and 'market' work. Yet such distinctions should be a central point of interrogation. This article probes these distinctions by analysing the overlapping social and legal boundaries which fragment work into categories of 'market', 'nonmarket', 'informal' and 'underground' labour. Instead of reifying these categorizations, however, this analysis shows them to be socially constructed categories that mutually constitute one another. By systematizing their points of connection and departure, the boundary map presented in this article provides the analytical structure for new comparative research across seemingly dissimilar categories of work, which will extend scholarly understanding of the fragmentation of work and the relationship between work and inequality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Houseman, Susan N. & Carolyn J. Heinrich (2015): Temporary help employment in recession and recovery. (Upjohn Institute working paper 227), Kalamazoo, Mich., 56 S. DOI:10.17848/wp15-227

Abstract

"The temporary help industry, although small, plays a significant role in the macro economy, reflecting employers' growing reliance on temporary help agencies to provide flexibility in meeting staffing needs. Drawing on detailed temporary-help order data between 2007 and 2011 from a large, nationally representative staffing company, we provide insights into the characteristics of temporary help work, employers' use of temporary agencies to screen workers for permanent positions, and the industry's role in labor market adjustment over the business cycle. We estimate that the temporary help industry accounted for a large share of gross job losses and job gains over this period, as well as for a sizable share of net separations and hires. Nearly a third of assignments were observed to end prematurely due to worker performance problems (largely soft skills deficiencies) or quits, and hire rates of workers in temp-to-hire contracts were low. Although most temporary help assignments are short-lived, during the recession, companies lengthened temporary help assignments and reduced hiring from their pool of temps, possibly in response to economic uncertainty. Nominal wage growth among new temporary hires was weak over the five-year period and failed to keep pace with inflation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitatform

Hyatt, Henry R. & James R. Spletzer (2015): The recent decline of single quarter jobs. (IZA discussion paper 8805), Bonn, 41 S.

Abstract

"Rates of hiring and job separation fell by as much as a third in the U.S. between the late 1990s and the early 2010s. Half of this decline is associated with the declining incidence of jobs that start and end in the same calendar quarter, employment events that we call 'single quarter jobs.' We investigate this unique subset of jobs and its decline using matched employer-employee data for the years 1996-2012. We characterize the worker demographics and employer characteristics of single quarter jobs, and demonstrate that changes over time in workforce and employer composition explain little of the decline in these jobs. We find that the decline in these jobs accounts for about a third of the decline in the fraction of the population that holds a job in the private sector that occurred from the mid -2000s to the early 2010s. We also find little evidence that single quarter jobs are stepping stones into longer-term employment. Finally, we show that the inclusion or exclusion of these single quarter jobs creates divergent trends in average earnings and the dispersion of earnings for the years 1996-2012. To the extent that administrative records measure the volatile tail of the employment distribution better than conventional household surveys, these findings show that measurement of short duration jobs matters for economic analysis." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))