The Brazilianisation of Youth Transitions in Australia and the UK?

A central theme of Beck's argument in The Brave New World of Work (2000) is that labour markets in the developed world are taking on some of the core characteristics that have been associated with less developed labour markets such as employment insecurity, informality and precarity. A process he refers to as Brazilianisation. In this paper we consider whether Beck's thesis can help us understand changes in youth transitions in Australia and the UK by developing a comparative analysis of processes of casualisation in the youth labour markets of the two countries. We assess the extent to which precarious labour market biographies have become entrenched and represent modern forms of engagement with the labour market. While evidence is presented to suggest that young people's labour market experiences have been affected by a trend towards greater casualisation, we argue that the changes are having the greatest impact on those in the weakest positions: in both countries women are more likely to be affected than men and casualisation is most evident in the lowest skilled occupations.     

Restructuring of Full‐time Workers: A Case of Transitional Dislocation or Social Exclusion in Canada? Lessons from the 1990s

The decade of the 1990s witnessed an unprecedented erosion of the postwar welfare state, with massive restructuring of the labour market away from full‐time, sustaining employment. This article examines the experiences of restructured Canadian full‐time workers who lost a job because of a company shutdown, relocation, or non‐seasonal business slowdown. Using data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics for the period 1993–2001, we present longitudinal data examining labour market outcomes at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months following the initial job loss. Outcome data allow us to examine the extent to which job displacement in the 1990s resulted in transitional dislocation followed by stable full‐time employment, or whether new pathways to social exclusion and marginalization were created. Given that only half of workers who lost their full‐time jobs during this period were in stable and full‐time employment two years later, we find support for the latter. The article further identifies policy alternatives that could lessen the social costs of neo‐liberal labour market restructuring in Canada and beyond.     

France: working longer takes time,in spite of reforms to raise the retirement age

Examination of the French situation from a comparative European perspective exposes the country's poor performance with regard to the employment of seniors and the prolongation of working life. Despite a recent rise in the employment rate of 55–59 year‐olds, worrisome signs have appeared, such as the steep rise in unemployment for this age category; this is indicative of the increasing vulnerability of ageing workers in the labour market. This critical analysis of twenty years of French public policies related to older workers seeks to identify the reasons for France's lag in making working life longer. The principal reason seems to be that public policies have nearly exclusively focused on increasing the supply of senior labour without adequately taking into account incentives for stimulating corporate demand for it. The many pension reforms undertaken from 2003 to 2014 have sought to lift the institutional obstacles to working longer. Accordingly, they have raised both the legal retirement age and the requisite number of quarters of contributions for entitlement to a full pension under Social Security. But effective, active labour market policies for stimulating the demand for senior labour have been lacking.     

Labour Force Participation,Social Inclusion and the Fair Work Act: Current and Carbon‐Constrained Contexts

The notion that employment is a precondition for personal wellbeing and social inclusion is almost sacrosanct in Australian culture. Yet, the working and living conditions of Australia's low paid workers tells a different story. While labour market participation is a cornerstone of the Federal Government's Social Inclusion Agenda, it is recognized that low pay and poor job quality often derail this key objective. Indeed, the difficulty of ‘making work pay’ at the bottom end of the labour market is a social inclusion challenge that has yet to receive the policy or public attention that it warrants. This article considers what the Fair Work Act means for the social inclusion of disadvantaged workers, in the context of wider‐ranging strategies to address low pay. It concludes with some considerations of the challenges that a carbon‐constrained economy is likely to present for labour force participation as a remedy for social exclusion.     

‘MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK’: TEENAGE WOMEN IN THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET, 1947 TO 1992

Teenage women have been particularly disadvantaged by the collapse of the youth labour market over the last 20 years. This article outlines the dimension of that problem, comparing the position young women held in the teenage labour market in the late 1940s with their position today. While the 1950s and 1960s saw growth in some areas of paid work for teenage women, the 1970s marked a watershed. With the major exception of saleswork in the retail industry and clerical work in banking, teenage women saw their place in the labour market dramatically shrink during that decade. Nearly 30,000 full-time jobs disappeared during the 1970s, to be replaced by nearly the same number of part-time jobs. The 1980s has seen these developments reach crisis proportions. In the late 1980s, nearly 40,000 clerical jobs were lost to teenage women, and again the only significant employment growth was in casualised service sector jobs, such as cashiers and sales workers. This article concludes by exploring the structural reasons behind these dramatic long-term changes.     

It's More Than an M‐shape: The Political Economy of Female Non‐Standard Workers in the Republic of Korea

This study examines the re‐entrance of female workers into the Korean labor market. We highlight that women in their 40s have the highest rate of employment among all female workers and that a large proportion of these women are entering into non‐standard employment. In approaching this question, we examine the political economy of this phenomenon by first discussing the demand side of the Korean labor market using the gendering of the varieties of capitalism argument and then the supply side with the work–life balance argument. When examining re‐entrance into the labor market, women with general skills with lower education and higher education both found it more feasible to re‐enter the labor market as non‐standard workers. While work–life balance is a prominent reason for women's choice of opting out of the labor market, work–life balance choice mattered less for women re‐entering the labor market as non‐standard workers in their 40s and 50s but instead firmly based skill formation mattered more. In addition, the retail service industry is suggested to absorb a large number of female workers with lower skill levels who would have had difficulties in re‐entering other male‐oriented companies.     

The decline of substitute pathways into retirement: Empirical evidence from the Dutch health care sector

Early retirement schemes and disability insurance in the Netherlands have undergone several reforms in recent decades. The reforms have increased incentives for older workers to continue working and have decreased the roles of “substitute pathways” into retirement. This article gives an overview of the reforms and, using administrative data for workers in the health care sector, tests a number of hypotheses about the labour market participation of older workers. The results offer two main findings: i) that the Dutch reforms have indeed been effective, as the labour force participation rate of older workers has increased; and ii) the concept of “substitute pathways” has become less relevant as the use of disability insurance has been closed off as an exit route to early retirement. Nevertheless, caution is required before generalizing the implications of these Dutch findings to other OECD countries.     

Women Reconciling Paid and Unpaid Work in a Confucian Welfare State: The Case of South Korea

The participation of married women in the labour market has been increasing since industrialization in the 1960s in Korea; in 1999 it overtook that of unmarried women. This raises the issue of how women reconcile paid and unpaid work and how state policy responds to this issue. In Korea, there have been numerous policy reforms designed to support working women in combining work and family life. For example, a parental leave scheme was introduced in 1995 and maternity benefits were also introduced in 2001. However, it is doubtful whether these policies can be effective in practice in Korea, where Confucian traditions in respect of women's roles remain strong. Confucian tradition has long influenced Korean society culturally and socially. Although Korean society today is not as Confucian as in the past, some traditions still remain strong, particularly with regard to the family: for example filial piety, seniority, the married woman's responsibility for her parents‐in‐law. This paper will argue that Confucian tradition makes for difficulties in Korean women's experiences of reconciling paid and unpaid work and also affects the formation of state policy. The paper explores the impact of the Confucian welfare regimes on Korean women's experience of reconciling paid and unpaid care work, and questions the gendered characteristics of the Confucian welfare state.     

A viable care migration programme for Australia's ageing population: Recruiting migrant personal care workers for Australian aged care

Scholars and stakeholders alike have proposed the recruiting of migrant personal care workers as part of a strategy to respond to a prospective aged care deficit in Australia's ageing population. In recent years, there has been an increase in care migration to fulfil shortages among Australia's culturally and linguistically diverse and more remotely based populations. However, it is a difficult and resource‐intensive process to recruit migrant personal care workers under the labour agreement stream of the Temporary Skills Shortage visa. This article addresses the lacuna in existing literature dealing with the question of how Australia's migration framework ought to be structured to recruit migrant personal care workers as part of a strategy to prevent, or respond to, an aged care crisis. The article argues that the formation of an aged care industry labour agreement based on geographical and niche subsector labour market need is necessary to ensure the accessibility of the programme to aged care organisations. However, it is also argued that the introduction of a new low‐skill visa would better facilitate the recruitment of migrant personal care workers.     

ISSUES AFFECTING WOMEN'S RETIREMENT PLANNING

There has been a steep rise over the past 20 years in the proportion of women who enter the workforce, with a concomitant increase in the number of women who will be retiring in the next 20 years. In the past, the majority of women over 60 have either been supported by their husbands superannuation benefits, or have been dependent on a government pension. This situation is unlikely to continue; it is becoming increasingly essential for women to make provision for their own post-retirement income. However available evidence suggests that women are not effectively planning for their retirement and are increasingly at risk of facing a life of poverty in their old age. This research project examines some of the factors that impact on women's capacity to effectively plan their retirement. In particular, the research explores the attitudes of women to retirement planning, access to information, and external impediments particularly labour market conditions.     

Transitions to employment from labour market enterprises in Norway

In this article we analyse a labour market programme for partially disabled workers that involves the transition from labour market enterprises to a job in the ordinary labour market. We found that the percentage of these people who found jobs after a maximum two-year programme period increased over time. In 1995, 28 per cent became employed in the ordinary job market after leaving the programme. Exit rates to employment increased to 36 per cent in 1998 and to 39 per cent in 1999. We also found heterogeneity in the job transitions. Employment ratios for men were relatively stable over time, varying between 30 and 40 per cent over the period 1995–1999. For women, however, we found a significant change in employment ratios, with 21 per cent finding a job in 1995 and 40 per cent in 1999. In 1995, employment ratios for female participants were below those of male participants, although there was no difference over the whole period studied (1995–1999). In 1999, the average transition rate to employment was higher for female than for male participants.     

Plant closures,precariousness and policy responses: Revisiting MG Rover 10 years on

With automotive plants being closed in Australia and western Europe, this article reflects on the employment status of ex-MG Rover (MGR) workers following the closure of the Longbridge plant in 2005. In particular, it draws on Standing's typology of labour market insecurity and uses a mixed-methods approach including an analysis of a longitudinal survey of some 200 ex-MGR workers, and in-depth interviews with ex-workers and policy-makers. While the policy response to the closure saw significant successes in terms of the great majority of workers successfully adjusting into re-employment, and with positive findings in terms of re-training and education, the paper finds significant challenges in terms of security of employment, income, job quality and representation at work years after closure. In particular, the paper posits that the general lack of attention to employment security at the macrolevel effectively undermined elements of a positive policy response over the longer run. This in turn suggests longer-term policy measures are required to address aspects of precariousness at work.     

Social risks and public pension in South Korea

This study investigated how traditional and new social risks have emerged in South Korea and how policies have coped with them, focusing on the public pension program. Using national statistics data and publicly published government reports, factors such as marital status, economic activity, and the insurance trend of the public pension by age and gender for the last decade were examined. Main results are as follows. Women's labor force participation has slightly increased; however, career discontinuity remains and new family risks have increased. Second, women's public pension coverage as a percentage of the employment rate has substantially increased, implying that old labor market risks have largely been reduced for female workers. Third, the public pension insured rate among male workers has decreased to a small degree, which implies that new labor market risks are increasing for male workers. Consequently, the gender gap in risk has been reduced; however, policies established to deal with new risks have introduced some gender effects     

Work Choices: the low productivity road to an underclass

The passage of the Work Choices Act 2005 serves to eliminate one of the last symbols of fairness in Australian society; the judicially‐determined conciliation and arbitration system and wage‐setting machinery. In this paper we examine the flawed conceptual framework, which underpins the Government's view that reducing the rights and protections of workers will produce superior labour market outcomes. We argue that the principal failure of the Work Choices Act is that it ignores the role of macroeconomic policy in directly addressing the efficiency and equity issues that have been said to motivate its provisions. The Act also ignores the different bargaining power of workers and capital and pays no attention to the serious social repercussions that will flow when labour is treated like a commodity. The imperative to minimise labour costs under Work Choices will spur a race to the bottom and the profusion of insecure, low‐paid, poor‐quality work in an economy characterised by allocative and dynamic inefficiency.     

Keeping Australia's Older Workers in the Labour Force. A Policy Perspective

As in other western industrialised countries the structural ageing of the Australian population has significant labour market implications. Government has responded with a range of policies to persuade older workers to abandon early retirement and/or remain in the workforce past traditional retirement ages. But whether this generation of workers will be prepared to change their retirement plans in response to policy encouragement, and whether current policy measures will translate into significant numbers of older workers extending their labour force participation is uncertain. Using the Australian Survey of Retirement Attitudes and Motivations (ASRAM) a recently completed, nationally representative survey of Australian workers aged 40 – 59 years we find that while the Government message about working longer is getting through, older workers are relatively unresponsive to current policy measures. Other policies, especially policies outside the financial realm, are needed to maximise the number of older Australians in the labour force.     

Women's Experience of the Workers Compensation System

A phenomenological study was undertaken to understand women's experience of the workers compensation system. Eleven women were interviewed. They ranged in age from twenty‐five to sixty‐five years and represented diverse socio‐economic and educational backgrounds. All women were from a non‐indigenous background. The initial question to women was “Can you tell me what it is like to be involved in the workers' compensation system?” The narratives were analysed and interpreted using Hycner's (1985) phenomenological guidelines. The knowledge embedded in the interviews, expressed through core stories and themes, was essential to making women's voices visible and provide insight into service delivery based on women's experiences and needs. Four core themes were found: negative versus positive experiences, the workplace response and role in the process, women's experiences of payouts, and reasons why women may not claim workers' compensation. The women indicated that the workers compensation process was a disincentive to making a claim. WorkCover was viewed as siding with the employer, bureaucratic in nature and lacking values associated with empathy, sympathy and caring. Recommendations for improvements to the workers compensation system included to establish legal obligations and enforcement of occupational health and safety responsibilities to injured and to ill workers; adoption of occupational health and safety values by employers; change the attitudes of employers (recognising women as breadwinners and that workers are not disposable); a single case manager to advocate for injured or ill workers; recognition of mental and emotional consequences of an injury or illness; provision of rehabilitation that recognises mental and emotional factors as well as the importance of family participation; greater involvement of employers and employees in the rehabilitation process; and finally, improved service delivery that involves consistency, ethics, clarity (regarding the WorkCover process for injured workers and employers), accountability and involvement of all parties.     

Continuity and change in the Community Development Employment Projects Scheme (CDEP)

The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme is an example of an Indigenous‐specific program that combines community development and labour market program elements. This paper describes the nature of CDEP employment in 2008 and the extent to which it changed between 1994 and 2008. The paper also compares a selection of economic and social outcomes of CDEP participants with those of persons who were employed outside of CDEP, unemployed and not‐in‐the‐labour‐force (NILF) in 2008 and the extent to which these associations changed between 1994 and 2008. This paper also aims to assess the extent to which CDEP participation is consistent with the community development objectives of the scheme. The analysis shows that the nature of the jobs in which CDEP participants work and the experiences it provides to workers have changed little despite substantial changes in underlying policy settings. CDEP participation is associated with the maintenance of language and culture as well as facilitating an ongoing connection to traditional lands. Participation in the scheme is associated with better social and economic outcomes compared to those of the unemployed or those NILF, but much worse outcomes than those for people working in non‐CDEP employment.     

Differences in Well‐being among People with Disabilities in Paid Employment: Level of Restriction,Gender and Labour Market Context

This study investigates the variability in well‐being of people with disabilities in paid employment in two different labour market contexts: the beginning (1998) and end (2009) of a period of growth in non‐standard hours and work intensification. It focuses on the well‐being constraints that arise from three influences: a person's disability, a person's gender, and the labour market context. Hypotheses are developed using the social model of disability and social identity theory. Hierarchical moderator regression is employed to examine two national samples of nearly 4,000 people with disabilities in paid employment. Individuals who are most limited by their disabilities, particularly women, reported lower well‐being in 2009 than in 1998. Welfare‐to‐work policies affecting these disadvantaged groups are discussed in relation to the labour market and national regulatory environments.     

Jobless or Working Poor in the Kyrgyz Labour Market: What Role for Social Policies?

This paper attempts to identify the multiple aspects of vulnerability in the Kyrgyz labour market. Particular attention is devoted to the working poor and precarious workers. This analysis is undertaken using the Kyrgyz Poverty Monitoring Survey, which is the only survey to date that allows a comprehensive analysis of poverty and labour market outcomes in the Kyrgyz Republic. The period under investigation covers the years 1997 to 1998, for which data are available. The results point to the extreme vulnerability of individuals with less education and women, who cumulated a high risk of being unemployed, of remaining longer in unemployment, of being discouraged unemployed and, if employed, of being low‐paid or working in precarious jobs. Other groups facing a high risk of exclusion, both from and within employment, were people with disabilities, individuals living in rural or depressed areas, young people and internal migrants. The multiple aspects of vulnerability in the Kyrgyz labour market, in particular the large overlap between work and poverty, have important implications for the design of effective social policies.     

‘WORK FOR THE DOLE’ – A CHEAP LABOUR MARKET PROGRAM? AN ECONOMIST'S PERSPECTIVE

From an economists perspective, this paper explores some of the issues associated with the design of an effective labour market program, and evaluation processes which are required to determine the merits of a scheme. This analysis comes at the time when pilot projects under the federal Government's ‘Work for the Dole’ scheme are being implemented. The paper concludes that if the ‘Work for the Dole’ scheme is to be viewed as a labour market program, then an evaluation mechanism should have been determined prior to the implementation of such a scheme.