The labor market costs of conflict: closures, foreign workers, and Palestinian employment and earnings

In this paper, we provide a lower bound estimate of the labor market costs of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The conflict is quantified by the number of overseas foreign workers in the Israeli labor market and the frequency of temporary closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. IV estimates, which exploit a source of exogenous variation in the number of overseas foreign workers, yield significant negative effects of the conflict on Palestinian employment rates in Israel and monthly earnings. Our cost-of-conflict estimates are also relevant for the literature on the economics of immigration.     

Recent developments in the employment and retirement of older workers in Germany

Against a background of an aging population, rising social security costs, and foreseeable labor and skill shortages, there have been public policy changes affecting older workers in Germany. Labor-market related initiatives aim at an increase of labor force participation among this group. Enterprise-related, active age-management strategies aim at improving occupational conditions of aging workers. In this context, prolonging the working life must be seen as one option of "active aging." Another view of the current retirement discussion is the question of how the unused potential of Germany's younger, early-retired seniors can be exploited. Active aging has become a social duty nowadays, with the intention that older persons contribute to society to avoid generational conflicts. In the future, active aging will preserve the competitiveness of enterprises and of the entire economy, despite an aging labor force. But gerontological research points out that different options to carry out individual life plans of active aging are also required. This article reviews the changes in public policies towards older workers and includes the findings of a project that illustrates good practice to combat age barriers in the labor world.     

Understanding the workweek of foreign born workers in the United States

I analyze the length of the workweek of foreign-born workers in the US I concentrate on workers supplying long hours of work—50 or more weekly hours and document that immigrants are less likely than natives to work long hours. Surprisingly, these differences are greatest among highly educated and salary paid workers, and persists even after conditioning for demographic characteristics. I explain these differences with two within occupation characteristics. First, relative to natives, immigrants are less likely to supply long work weeks if they work in occupations where the immigrant-native earnings differential is big. Second, immigrants are also less likely to supply long work weeks when they work in occupations with a wide dispersion of earnings. This second result is important, because the occupation dispersion of earnings has been used to characterize changes of the worker’s earnings over the worker life cycle (Bell and Freeman, Labour Economics: 8(2), 2001a; Working Time in Comparative Perspective, 2001b; Kuhn and Lozano, Journal of Labor Economics:26(2), 311–344, 2008), and a good measure of the incentives to supply long hours of work.     

Aging workers in search of employment & health insurance coverage

Aging workers, ages 55 to 64, face challenges finding employment and health insurance coverage. In the search for employment, they frequently discover that their skills and needs do not match the opportunities in today's work environment. Roadblocks in the search have the potential to negatively affect overall health and well-being. This article examines employment and health insurance challenges faced by aging workers and suggests nursing interventions that will help reduce stress and promote healthy aging.     

Devolution of employment and training policy: the case of older workers

The case for the devolution of employment and training programs has traditionally been based on the supply side argument that state and local governments are in the best position to assess the training needs of their disadvantaged workers. We provide a different perspective by focusing on the demand side of the labor market and the link between aiding older workers and fostering economic growth. We illustrate the importance of this focus by examining the labor market in Massachusetts, where the full employment economy of the late 1990s resulted in serious labor supply bottlenecks. Older workers, whose ranks are growing rapidly, provide the largest known labor reserve for meeting these labor supply deficits in the next decade. Tapping this reserve, however, means improving skills, deferring retirement, bringing older persons back into the labor market, and increasing full-time employment. Massachusetts already has the policy tools needed to train older workers to fill emerging job needs, but these policies will need to be substantially upgraded and reoriented. Too little funding, an emphasis on short-term programs, lack of coordination among programs, weak linkages to the private sector, and the limited flexibility of human resources practices in both the private and public sectors have left both government programs and employers ill-prepared to utilize fully the older worker labor reserve.     

The role of foreign workers in the seasonal fluctuations of the French economy

The few studies that have been carried out only take into account the annual inflows of seasonal immigrants. This present article covers 2 other aspects of the problem: 1) the seasonal nature of immigration in general and 2) above all the role of permanent immigrant workers in certain sectors influenced by seasonal changes. The number of permanent first-time immigrants is determined, among other causes, by the need for a certain seasonal regulation of overall economic activity. The role of the foreign work force is o fparticular importance in 3 sectors influenced by seasonal changes, and it fulfills a function of seasonal regulation of activity in at least 2 of these sectors: the building trade and agriculture. However, the recognition of the need for seasonal regulation has been used as a pretext for making employment more unstable, in particular for permanent immigrant workers, many of whom cannot find work for the whole year. Seasonal work also plays a key role in agriculture and the hotel trade. Moreover, the part played by illegal immigrants is decisive, not only in these 2 sectors, but throughout the illegal labor market. In the years to come it is likely that seasonal immigration will continue to fall perhaps by half, as a result of mechanization in general, its application in grape-harvesting, and the adoption of new farming techniques. However, it will probably remain sufficiently high to make up for the lack of a national reserve of seasonal labor, especially in vegetable and fruit farming, lumbering, and catering. Seasonal immigration will doubtlessly continue also because it puts a downward pessure on the average wage and makes employment more precarious. It also constitutes a reserve of illegal labor, which can be used in sectors which have a crucial impact on the balance of goods and services in France. These advantages for the French government and employers are above all disadvantages for the seasonal immigrant workers themselves, whose living and health conditions are increasingly catastrophic.     

Demographic and employment shifts: implications for benefits and economic security

This Issue Brief examines factors affecting the population's age distribution and composition, such as mortality rates, fertility rates, and immigration. In addition, it examines factors affecting labor force composition, such as immigration, increased labor force participation of women, and retirement trends, and discusses the potential impact of these changes on publicly financed programs: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and federal employee retirement systems. The discussion also highlights the implications of these population and labor force changes on employers, employees, and retirees. The elderly population--now 31.8 million, representing 12.6 percent of the population--is projected to experience tremendous growth between 2010 and 2030, when the baby boom generation reaches age 65, rising from 39.7 million, or 13.3 percent of the population, to 69.8 million, or 20.2 percent of the population. Growth in the elderly population has implications for retirement and health care systems. Population projections suggest that the traditionally pyramid-shaped work force, with a proportionately greater number of younger workers than older workers, will be replaced with a more even age distribution. Consequently, significant and continued modifications to benefit packages, such as changes in compensation structures in which earnings automatically rise with age, are likely to occur. Women's labor force participation began to accelerate in the mid-1950s, rising 75 percent among women aged 25-44 in 1991, although there is some indication that this growth may be flattening. With women comprising a greater part of the labor force, employers will be encouraged to develop and implement programs to better accommodate their needs. Increased life expectancy, a decreased percentage of entry level workers, changes in Social Security's normal retirement age from 65 to 67, and employer plans to raise the normal age of retirement or provide incentives to delay retirement, could raise the average age of retirement. However, other factors, such as poor health, other sources of retirement income, and individual preferences for retirement, could still dominate the retirement decision. The combination of increased average life expectancy guaranteeing more years of retirement to finance and rising dependency ratios increases the future cost of Social Security financing. Medicare financing is also an important policy issue because the program is projected to experience financial difficulties in the short term, resulting from explosive health care costs. In addition, Medicaid expenditures are consuming increasing amount of shrinking state budget resources--a large portion of which is used to finance nursing home care for a growing elderly population.     

The relative economic progress of male foreign workers in Kuwait

"A human capital framework is utilized to examine the economic progress of nine nationality groups of foreign workers [in Kuwait] using data from the 1983 national Labor Survey. The sources of earnings' variations of particular interest to us included different degrees of education and experience transferability, occupational affiliation and ethnic background. In general, the results derived from the analysis suggest that 1) foreign workers achieve a discernible economic progress as their residence lengthens; 2) the rate of economic progress varies depending on worker's education, home and Kuwait-specific experience, occupational status and ethnic background; and 3) about one third of the earnings inequality is due to unexplained factors including discrimination."     

Assessment of quality of sleep and sleepiness in workers with rotating shifts

The study aims to evaluate the sleep quality and presence of daytime sleepiness in workers.     

Discrimination of older workers in Germany: obstacles and options for the integration into employment

The employment prospects of older workers in Germany are widely endangered because of age discrimination. The main indicator concerning recruitment is that from the age of 45 on the difficulties in finding a new job rise extraordinarily and, accordingly, the duration of unemployment rises. Concerning further training, there is a lack of participation by older workers in vocational training and, additionally, they face numerous risks in the deterioration of their skills. Given the long-term implications of the aging labor force, employers must adapt their approaches to recruiting and training older workers to prevent a further loss of skills and know-how. A comprehensive strategy for integrating older workers and overcoming age barriers in employment is required. To promote recruitment, job-placement programs should be linked more closely to companies and public programs should be targeted to older unemployed workers. To promote further training of older workers, the workplace needs to create a learning environment, introduce a greater variety of tasks, and develop training schemes.     

No foot in the door: an experimental study of employment discrimination against older workers

Pairs of testers, one aged 57 and one aged 32, applied for 102 entry-level sales or management jobs in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Although their credentials described them as equally qualified, the older applicants received less favorable responses from employers 41.2% of the time. Three quarters of these differences occurred before older applicants could fully present their qualifications. The negative employer assumptions about older workers implied by these differences in outcome were seldom explicitly stated.     

Problems and policies regarding the socio-economic integration of returnees and foreign workers in Greece

"The integration of repatriating Greek migrants, ethnic Greeks and foreign workers has individual and macroeconomic aspects, both of which must be addressed within a dynamic perspective.... This article analyses the problems involved, and the policies and programmes adopted (or the lack of policies), for the integration of incoming workers to the Greek economy. Wherever possible, the suitability and effectiveness of measures taken are evaluated against the experience gained.... It may be concluded from this analysis that policies adopted for the integration of various migrant groups to Greece (i.e. Greek migrant returnees, ethnic-Greek foreigners and illegal migrants) lack a central aim, orientation and strategy, as well as a long-term perspective." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Maid-in-Singapore: representing and consuming foreign domestic workers in Singapore cinema

The Maid, a Singapore-made horror film featuring a foreign domestic worker as its protagonist, was released in 2005 to very favourable reviews in the local press. The critical audience generally used the film to praise the development of the local film industry while ignoring the social commentary of the foreign domestic worker experience in Singapore. This paper aims to address this lack of commentary on the issues and circumstances surrounding foreign domestic service in The Maid. Doing so reveals a multilayered representation of order in Singapore based firmly on ethnicity and class, where the images of foreign maids are dramatised, reconstructed and consumed in various discursive forms by various social agents.     

Labour crunch,foreign workers and policy responses: the experience of Japan

"Japan has experienced labour shortages since the late 1960s....The present study is an attempt to analyse the Japanese government's response to circumvent labour shortages. It focuses on two aspects: perception of Japanese society towards the increasing presence of foreign workers in Japan and associated problems; and measures taken by the government to overcome labour crunch. These aspects are examined within the [framework of an] increasing flow of foreigners to Japan during the past decades." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

An alternative look at temporary workers, their choices, and the growth in temporary employment

We examine temporary workers (temps), their choices, and growth in temporary employment. We find that some people choose a temporary job because they desire greater schedule flexibility, particularly students and women with children. For most, however, weaker permanent job opportunities drive them into temporary positions. Using the 1995 and 1997 Current Population Surveys (CPS) we find that both the percentage of the work force in temporary jobs and the absolute number of temps declined when applying a new CPS-based measure of temporary. This is in stark contrast to the rising percentage found in several previous studies when looking only at workers in personnel supply services and clearly questions prior claims and concerns about growth in the temporary work force. The authors thank Petra Todd for her help and valuable suggestions and comments. We are also grateful to Richard Rogerson for his comments. All remaining mistakes are ours.     

Mobile phones,communities and social networks among foreign workers in Singapore

Transnational mobility affects both high‐status and low‐income workers, disrupting traditional assumptions of the boundedness of communities. There is a need to reconfigure our most basic theoretical and analytical constructs. In this article I engage in this task by illustrating a complex set of distinctions (as well as connections) between ‘communities’ as ideationally constituted through cultural practices and ‘social networks’ constituted through interaction and exchange. I have grounded the analysis ethnographically in the experiences of foreign workers in Singapore, focusing on domestic and construction workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh. I examine the cultural, social and communicative role that mobile phones play in the lives of workers who are otherwise constrained in terms of mobility, living patterns and activities. Mobile phones are constituted as symbol status markers in relationship to foreign workers. Local representations construct foreign workers as users and consumers of mobile telephony, reinscribing ideas of transnational identities as well as foreignness within the context of Singapore. Migrant workers demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the various telephony options available, but the desire to use phones to communicate can overwhelm their self‐control and lead to very high expenditures. The research highlights the constraints – as well as possibilities – individuals experience as subjects and agents within both social and cultural systems, and the ways in which those constraints and possibilities are mediated by a particular technology – in this case, mobile phones.     

Negative impact induced by foreign workers: Evidence in Malaysian construction sector

Though foreign workers served to overcome the labor shortage in the Malaysian construction market, over-dependence on foreign workers and the negative impacts induced have become a serious social problem. The aims of this research are to identify those negative impacts induced by foreign workers in the Malaysian construction market and to determine strategies in minimizing these negative impacts. Data were collected through a structured interview and survey. The questionnaires were delegated to professionals in construction projects who have direct contacts with foreign workers. Only respondents from those companies registered under the CIDB grade G7 were chosen for this survey. There were 117 sets of questionnaires completed and analyzed through the structured interviews. The three principal factors attracting foreign workers to the Malaysian construction market are “Preference of the employers”, “Lifestyle and working conditions”, and “Unattractiveness of the career pathway”. The main negative impacts induced by foreign workers are “Over-dependence on foreign workers”, “Increment in criminal activities or social problems”, and “Existence of illegal workers”. This research proposes that strategies such as “Attract local workers into the construction industry”, “Industrialized Building Systems”, “Eliminate illegal migration”, and “Improve governance structure” would be successful in minimizing negative impacts induced by foreign workers.