‘Survival Employment’: Gender and Deskilling among African Immigrants in Canada

Recent research points to a growing gap between immigrant and native‐born outcomes in the Canadian labour market at the same time as selection processes emphasize recruiting highly educated newcomers. Drawing on interviews with well‐educated men and women who migrated from countries in sub‐Saharan Africa, this paper explores the gendered processes that produce weak economic integration in Canada. Three‐quarters of research participants experienced downward occupational mobility, with the majority employed in low‐skilled, low‐wage, insecure forms of “survival employment”. In a gendered labour market, where common demands for “Canadian experience”, “Canadian credentials” and “Canadian accents” were uneven across different sectors of the labour market, women faced particular difficulties finding “survival employment”; in the long run, however, women’s greater investment in additional post‐secondary education within Canada placed them in a somewhat better position than men. The policy implications of this study are fourfold: first, we raise questions about the efficacy of Canadian immigration policies that prioritize the recruitment of well‐educated immigrants without addressing the multiple barriers that result in deskillling; second, we question government policies and settlement practices that undermine more equitable economic integration of immigrants; third, we address the importance of tackling the “everyday racism” that immigrants experience in the Canadian labour market; and finally, we suggest the need to re‐think narrowly defined notions of economic integration in light of the gendered nature of contemporary labour markets, and immigrants’ own definitions of what constitutes meaningful integration.     

Measuring employment vulnerability in Europe

Two of the most notable trends in labour markets in Europe are the rise in the number of atypical job contracts (e.g. fixed‐term contracts and temporary work) and the increase in job turnover. The concept of “employment vulnerability” can be used to describe these trends, which weaken the employer–employee relationship. In this article, the authors measure this employment vulnerability, for individual European countries, by creating two indices – an “employer‐related vulnerability index” and a “job‐related vulnerability index” – which are then aggregated to form an overall employment vulnerability index.     

Economic growth,labour flexibilization and employment quality in Colombia, 2002–11

Over the period 2002–11, the Colombian labour market saw a marked improvement in employment opportunities, accompanied by an increase in nonstandard forms of employment. The authors look at how this affected employment quality, using a composite index based on Categorical Principal Components Analysis (CATPCA). They observe a small but widespread improvement in employment quality – mainly for self‐employed women – brought about by higher earnings, increased social protection and less time‐related underemployment. However, a considerable “quality deficit” remains, which calls for policies to strengthen labour market institutions and stimulate productivity and investment.     

Skilled Labour Migration and Positive Externality: The Case of Turkish Engineers Working Abroad

This study aims at exploring potential positive externalities of skilled labour migration from Turkey and highlighting social policies targeting “brain drain to brain gain” strategies in the case of Turkish engineers living abroad. Based on case study and further investigations, the skilled labour migration among Turkish engineers can be defined as a “brain over‐flow.” The main structural reason of this situation is discrepancy between educational and employment policies. Data indicate that it can be obtain positive externalities from skilled labour migration under certain conditions. Ninety per cent of all participants intended to give support to development practices in Turkey, even if they were not returning (n‐130). Only 10 per cent of all participants didn’t intend to give any kind of support. Cooperative projects, establishment of networks, forums and consultancy services to Turkish companies, were the most mentioned support manners. To realize these proposals, it is essential to develop active public policies aiming at a “brain drain to brain gain” approach, for short‐ and long‐term periods.     

The relationship between youth employment and older persons' employment in 20 OECD countries

Inspired by the “lump of labour” theory, a large number of OECD countries have encouraged the expansion of early retirement policies in response to rising unemployment since the 1970s. In reality, however, youth employment is found to be positively correlated with older persons' employment, although this is simply the overall finding for all OECD countries because most studies estimate average effects. Less is known about diversity in the relationship between youth employment and the employment of older workers. In order to help fill the research gap in this area, this study explores the heterogeneity of that relationship across 20 OECD countries.     

Making Coolies, (Un)making Workers: “Globalizing” Labour in the Late‐19th and Early‐20th Centuries

This paper explores the social relationships of wage labour formed or stabilized in British merchant shipping in the course of “off‐shoring” employment in the late‐19^th century. It argues that Asian wage‐workers were mobilized for employment on British merchant vessels as “coolies”, i.e. nominally free but mediated labouring subjects who could only be stabilized through legal, penal, social, debt, or other forms of coercion. Once introduced “coolie” relations were not confined to Indian crews. They also affected wage labour relations more generally in British shipping. While occurring against the backdrop of anti‐colonial struggles, the seafaring coolie's transformation into maritime worker was closely mediated by employers and the colonial state and produced hybrid outcomes. The creation of the modern seafaring “coolie” and the nature and context of his transformation into a “worker” thus shed interesting light on wage labour relations in the modern and contemporary global economy.     

Photographs of young generations on the Dutch labour market

In the light of the decline of “standard” employment relationships in many countries and its particular effect on young people, this article provides a detailed analysis of the labour market trajectories of early-career workers in the Netherlands between 1985 and 2014, adopting the approach of the sequence analysis of life-course events. Using two indicators for instability (entropy and turbulence), the authors find that cohorts that entered the labour market after 2000, and particularly in 2008, experience greater employment status instability despite the flexicurity policies applied. Transitions into stable employment are the exception rather than the rule.     

“Back There We Had Nothing to Eat”: The Case of Transnational Food Insecurity

This article discusses migrant food insecurity in the United States from the perspective of Mexican and Central American migrant women. Many describe migrating because they had nothing to eat in their countries of origin. Migration is thus framed as a necessary strategy for overcoming food insecurity. I argue that these women's perspectives are unique in the migration literature because food security comprises a gendered labour from which men are frequently spared. Unfortunately, food insecurity still prevails in these women's households in the US. Assuming a “double‐duty” workday of earning wages and overseeing care within households, these women experience the added burden of ensuring food security of households “back there.” Thus, I argue that the food practices of Mexican and Central American migrant women provide a unique lens through which to understand the increased feminization of transnational migration from Latin America to other regions of the world.     

Work–family reconciliation policies without equal opportunities? The case of Austria

This paper explores the main public work–family policies in Austria (parental leave in connection with the Childcare Benefit, parents’ entitlement to part-time work, the extension of the childcare infrastructure) from the perspective of social justice using the normative concepts of gender equality, recognition, and choice. The main results show that for the most part, these policies offer affirmative recognition of maternal care and limited employment of mothers but offer little support for transformative recognition, particularly in terms of increasing the social status of working mothers and fathers as carers. Austrian work–family policies also do little to redistribute incomes and career opportunities from men to women and childcare from women to men; instead, they grant only limited freedom to choose between parental duties and employment, and the (financial) support they do offer is strongly concentrated on early childhood. All in all, the construction of the parental leave system (together with the Childcare Benefit), the entitlement to work part time, shortfalls in public childcare structures, and the lack of awareness of gendered (cultural and material) structures on the labour market and within families do not actively encourage gender equality. Some aspects of these policies even stabilise and deepen gendered structures on the labour market and in families.     

Arbeitslos oder erwerbsunfähig?

An international comparison of unemployment rates suggests a poor performance of the German labour market. Based on comparative analyses for Germany, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, the UK and the United States the paper tries to show that a more sophisticated picture can be drawn by taking additional forms of non-employment (e.g. disability, retirement or out of labour force) into account. For this purpose data from the “European Social Survey” (ESS) and the survey “Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy” collected in 2004 and 2005 is analysed. While “unemployment” plays a dominant role in Germany, people with comparable demographic characteristics and similar health status are increasingly classified as “permanently disabled” in the other countries. The results stress that an international comparison of labour market performance and especially a comparison of the effectiveness of labour market and social policy reforms should not only rely on employment and unemployment rates. Taking alternative forms of non-employment into account can increase our knowledge and understanding of functional differences of labour markets in Europe and the United States.     

The Impact of Female Emigration on Families and the Welfare State in Countries of Origin: The Case of Romania

The heavy reliance on foreign labour in the care sector by Western countries (particularly those in southern Europe) is fuelling a growing feminization of migration in many emigration countries. This migration has a new impact on the countries of origin: it adds the problem of “care drain” to the better known “skill drain” problem ‐‐ which has already been extensively examined in the literature. In this article, we investigate how this phenomenon is taking place in Romania. In particular, the article explores the compensatory strategies put in place by Romanian families and local welfare states to limit the impact of care drain. Furthermore, it considers the persistence of a “care shortage” problem, which constrains both individuals and local institutions in Romania and requires the establishment of new social and cooperation policies. The research is based on the results of qualitative interviews conducted between the winter and spring of 2006 with 30 Romanian female care‐workers living in Turin and Rome, and with 40 family members of female care‐workers (often belonging to the same family units as the women interviewed in Italy) in Romania. With a view to gaining a more comprehensive overview of the phenomenon, more than 35 privileged observers were also interviewed in both countries in which the field work was carried out.     

Are baby boomer women redefining retirement?

As the baby boomers enter later life, unprecedented numbers of women are retiring. The first generation of women to encounter retirement since its institutionalisation as an expected male life course transition in the mid‐20th century, these women are leaving the labour force at a time when the meanings associated with “retirement” are changing. Longer life expectancy, improved health outcomes, and transformations in work driven by globalisation have produced greater diversity in when, why, and how people exit the labour force. Many boomer women are disadvantaged in later life by their histories of discontinuous employment and care‐giving. Consequently, we argue, opportunities to engage in “retirement” projects of their own choosing are unequal across this population. This essay reviews qualitative studies in sociology that examine boomer women's experiences of retirement and is organised in terms of the three main approaches that inform this under‐studied field: critical/feminist gerontology, identity theory, and life course approaches. Based on our review, we posit the need for socially inclusive research, beyond the prevailing emphasis on White, middle‐class professional women; more studies examining the impact of earlier life course transitions on women's later years; and attention to the effects of “successful ageing” discourses on women's lived experiences.     

Shifting the Beveridge curve: What affects labour market matching?

This article explores short‐run determinants of the matching between labour demand and supply by identifying shifts in the Beveridge curves for 12 OECD countries between 2000Q1 and 2013Q4. Using three complementary methodologies (visual examination, cointegration techniques and non‐linear estimations), we find that labour force growth and employment protection legislation reduce the likelihood of outward shifts, and the higher the share of employees with intermediate levels of education and the long‐term unemployment, the more difficult the matching process. Active labour market policies (such as incentives for start‐ups or job‐sharing programmes) could facilitate matching, while passive policies (unemployment benefits or labour taxation) make matching significantly more difficult.     

(Muslim) Woman in Need of Empowerment

Why, in the current geo-political and strategic context seemingly in stark contrast to the “War on Terror,” does the emphasis on women in US foreign policy persist? Why the repeated references to the vulnerability of women who “need” US help to become “empowered” in the countries of the Arab Spring? An examination of US policymakers’ discourses indicates a neo-orientalist biopolitical construction of the (Muslim) female population as one in perpetual need of “empowerment,” presumably by American or western benefactors. Public statements by US foreign policy officials, discussions of government programs and Congressional testimony add to the repertoire of a western-constructed archaeology of neo-orientalist knowledge of Islam. Further, these gendered discursive “imperial encounters” create open-ended possibilities for US interventionist policies in the region for years to come. The Arab (Muslim) woman may have participated in sparking and sustaining revolutions and even bringing down dictators, but she must still be trained and taught – by Americans or westerners. The sometimes didactic, often foreboding “concern” for her empowerment is more nuanced, but no less significant, than the professed commitment to “saving” her as justification for military operations in the heyday of the War on Terror.     

Privileging work not sex: flexibility and employment in the sexual services industry

We present findings from a study of sex workers recruited in indoor licensed premises in Victoria. While the study addressed regulation, enforcement and working conditions, we focus on the value of flexible well‐paid work for two particular groups of female workers (parents and students). We link this issue of flexibility to broader gendered employment conditions in Australia, arguing the lack of comparable employment is crucial to understanding worker decisions about sex work. Debates and regulation focus on gendered inequalities related to heterosexuality much more than they recognize gendered inequalities related to labour market conditions. The focus on criminalization, harm, exploitation and stigma obscures the centrality of work flexibility and conditions to women's decision‐making. A more direct focus on the broader employment context may produce better recognition of why women do sex work.     

Globalisierung und die Veränderung sozialer Ungleichheiten in modernen Gesellschaften

This article deals with the effects of globalization on individual life courses and employment careers and the resulting changes in patterns of social inequality in modern societies. Empirically, we draw back to results from the international research project GLOBALIFE which studied the effects of globalization on modern life courses for the first time. The results show that the effects of globalization on individual life courses show marked differentiation with regards to specific life course phases: while especially the employment of mid-career men remained considerably stable under globalization, the careers of young adults, mid-career women as well as late-career workers underwent significant alterations. At the same time, results from the GLOABLIFE study indicate that the changes induced by globalization have not yet led to identical results at the national level. Globalization appears to be differentially filtered by deeply embedded and path-dependent national institutions. These “institutional packages” entail variable forms of labour market “flexibilisation” which themselves differentially shape patterns of social inequality in modern societies: While Scandinavian countries have largely succeeded in limiting an increase in social inequality under globalization through active public welfare engagement, globalization has led to a significant amplification of social inequalities in other regime types, either between labour market insiders and outsiders (in conservative and Southern European countries) or between individuals with different human capital resources (in liberal countries).     

Destabilisierung und Destandardisierung, aber für wen? Die Entwicklung der westdeutschen Arbeitsplatzmobilität seit 1984

We contribute to the long-standing debate about an alleged “destabilization” and “destandardization” of employment biographies by analyzing how the job-shift patterns of West German workers have changed between 1984 and 2008. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we study changes in the rates of (upward) within- and between-firm mobility as well as the risk of employment exit, analyzing trends separately by gender, education, labour force experience, firm size, and sector. We document a considerable and pervasive reduction in the rate of (upward) within-firm moves. The decline is stronger for men and particularly steep for the employees of large companies and for those with limited labour force experience. We interpret these findings as evidence for a decline of internal labour markets and for increasing difficulties among labour market entrants. A second major result of our analysis is that rates of between-firm mobility and employment exit have risen primarily for low-educated men and women.     

‘The Women Can Be Moved to Fill in the Gaps’: New Production Concepts,Gender and Suppliers

This article wishes to extend our understanding of New Production Concepts (hereafter NPC) induced restructuring in two areas. Firstly, it wishes to further explore the gender distinctions to be made when considering the impact of NPC on the labour process. In turn, this calls for a consideration of the extent to which NPC restructuring perpetuates, recasts and fortifies gendered divisions of labour within organizations. It will indicate how the introduction of NPC within a buyer and two supply organizations intensified prevailing gendered divisions of labour and disproportionately impacted upon women workers. It will also stress that women workers appeared to be more exposed to the implementation of policies designed to secure responsiveness to the satisfaction of customer requirements. However, while the evidence will reveal the importance of exploring distinctions within labour as part of a process of restructuring, it also highlights the linkages between these organizations. Secondly, therefore it aims to extend the territory of existing debates by highlighting a gender distinction across and between organizations. It will conclude by highlighting the importance of constructing an analysis of NPC‐induced restructuring which not only embraces a gendered analysis of change but simultaneously does not privilege research attention to particular ‘hermetically sealed’ workplaces, dislocated from a wider process of inter‐firm restructuring.     

North African labour migration: The search for alternatives

The varying responses of the Maghreb countries to the closure of the West European labour markets to immigrant labour inflows in 1973 are examined. While Algeria has affirmed its commitment to the return and re‐integration of its migrant community, Tunisia and Morocco have pursued policies of migrant re‐direction. Although emigration to Libya has increased substantially, fluctuating political relations made this a highly unstable destination. Government efforts to secure employment opportunities in the Gulf emirates and in Saudi Arabia have been markedly less successful. Long‐term solutions to the employment problems of the North African states demand radical new policies.