Technology and the Labor Market

Review of Economics of the Household - Economic developments of the past three decades posed new questions to economists: what are the causes of fluctuations in rates of return to human capital?...     

French Labor Tribunals and the making of Labor law. Toward a sociology of judiciary roles

How do the verdicts of French joint industrial tribunals (Conseils de prud’hommes) participate in shaping the law in the field of labor relations? A “sociographic” survey brings to light both the multiplicity of forms of commitment to the institution and the key role played by a group of “professionals” in these labor tribunals, where elected representatives of employer associations and trade-unions sit side by side. Analyzing how councillors are socialized by the institution and how they arrive at their decisions shows that judgments stem from a combination of three different rationales: the law, union representation and the world of work. Between magistrates’ social characteristics, institutional affiliations and manners of judging, a new way of studying judiciary activity is suggested.     

Emile Durkheim and the Division of Labor

Although the concept of the division of labor is appropriately and irrevocably associated with Durkheim, the division of labor plays a somewhat lesser role in Durkheim's thinking than is sometimes believed. He, in fact, relegates it to secondary status as a form of social organization, and his position is used to legitimate a sociology that looks to explanation by means of beliefs, sentiments, and values. But there are available data which cast doubt on some portions of Durkheim's argument concerning the secondary nature of the division of labor, and a close examination of Durkheim's analysis of the division of labor raises serious doubts about the logical adequacy of his position.     

Labor Supply,Labor Demand,and Men's Underemployment in Rural and Urban Labor Markets1

Abstract This paper examines how the structure of the labor market differentially affects white men's underemployment in urban and rural areas. The effects of labor supply and demand, including special measures of public employment and two previously neglected aspects of competition—global industrial competition and sexual labor market competition—on unemployment, low-wage employment, and low-hours employment are examined. A higher proportion of females in the labor force in rural labor market areas provides benefits to men in the form of lower unemployment, but also costs them, through an increased prevalence of low-wage employment, while the opposite effects are evident for areas with concentrations in periphery service industries. The findings suggest that industrial restructuring in the form of increased foreign competition and an increased loss of core transformative jobs are especially threatening to rural men's employment adequacy.     

Male Entry into the Labor Force: Estimates of Occupational Rewards and Labor Market Discrimination*

Causal models of initial occupational rewards for black and white males are developed from the responses of first-year workers in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience. A comparison of the black and white models shows that while blacks have experienced considerable upward mobility, their income and prestige remain far behind their white counterparts. Two explanations for this racial gap are indicated by the data: (1) blacks begin work with lower levels of key background variables, and (2) racial discrimination in the labor market. Our measurement of racial discrimination in labor market entry accounts for only a small proportion of the gap between black and white levels of rewards; and when compared with earlier research, the data indicate a national trend of decreasing racial discrimination in the labor market.     

很土很时常——城市中的阳台菜农

种菜已成为一种时尚。而对于大多数城市居民而言，阳台是种菜的第一选择。论坛和微博上，阳台农夫们关于种菜攻略的讨论如火如荼；贴上“阳台种菜”的商品纷纷成为网店的畅销产品；     

外部环境对高新技术企业生命周期的影响

高新技术企业生命周期可细分为孕育期、创建期．成长期，成熟期、衰退期及死亡期。对于一些具体的高新技术企业来说，其生命周期可能只经历了其中的某些阶段，如没到成熟期就已不复存在。影响高新技术企业生命周期的因素很多，本文将主要探讨金融环境．法律政策环境、技术环境，市场环境、区域环境等外部环境对高新技术企业生命周期的影响。     

Part-Time Work and the Gender Division of Labor

In response to the incompatible demands of work and motherhood, many mothers seek out part-time work schedules. Although many mothers consider this option “the best of both worlds,” scholars are divided about whether part-time work is in women’s best interest because it is linked to the gender division of labor in the home, and hence, to gender inequality. In this paper, we investigate the mostly unintended consequences of part-time work on the gender division of labor within the household. Drawing on 54 in-depth interviews with mothers who voluntarily work part-time, we explore how mothers experience household work and child care arrangements when they work part-time. Three factors emerged as most important in understanding how part-time work can shape mothers’ experiences of the gender division of labor: pathway to part-time work, work location, and work schedule. Depending on these factors, part-time work may be experienced as either enhancing or undermining of the gender division of labor, and thus, as promoting or undermining gender equality in their families.

New Global Politics of Reproductive Labor: Gendered Labor and Marriage Migration

The feminization of international migration nowadays has demonstrated a new global politics of reproductive labor (work necessary for the reproduction of families). This paper reviews recent studies that manifest similarity, affinity, and continuity across multiple forms of reproductive labor carried out by migrant women in four aspects. First, the recruitment of women as foreign maids or foreign brides provides class‐specific parallel strategies to the global care crisis. Second, paid and unpaid forms of reproductive labor constitute intersecting circuits of labor and marriage migration through which women partake in continuous migration. Third, various categories of migrant women are discursively conflated and attached to similar images as sexualized others. Finally, global care chains not only involve migrant reproductive labor conducted at home but also operate on the level of social reproduction as indicated by the expansion of international nursing migration.     

Trade-Offs in the Labor Union-CEO Compensation Relationship

We examine the relationship between union presence and CEO compensation. Based on the notion that the union taxes the firm's returns, we test whether unions successfully capture a larger share of the firm's returns with respect to the share captured by the CEO. On average CEOs in union firms are paid 19 percent less than those in nonunion firms, after controlling for several determinants of CEO pay. CEO compensation risk is lower in union firms because the reduced compensation risk is a trade-off for the lower level of CEO compensation.     

The Tenant Labor Market and Lynching in the South: A Test of Split Labor Market Theory*

Split labor market theory was originally advanced as a general approach explaining ethnic antagonism as the result of class-based interests. In this investigation, the threat to “high-priced” (white) labor from “cheap” (black) labor within the farm tenancy system of the postbellum South is examined as an underlying cause of the lynching of blacks by whites. Supporting this interpretation, the ratio of black to white tenants in southern counties, a measure of the level of economic threat to high-priced labor, is shown to be a strong predictor of lynching rates in the Cotton South. Findings for the Non-Cotton South, however, are inconsistent with theoretical expectations. We conclude that racial violence linked to economic competition between working-class whites and blacks was limited to that part of the South dominated by the plantation system.     

Alternative Approaches to the Governance of Transnational Labor Recruitment

As globalization advances, the governance challenges relating to cross‐border labor recruitment have also grown. Transnational companies that manage the employment‐based migration process often take advantage of individuals seeking work abroad. While some states have implemented recruitment regulations, a combination of jurisdictional constraints and economic interests have limited states’ capacity and political will to take action. Supplemental strategies are emerging led by international organizations, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), labor unions, and corporate trade groups. This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of strategies led by each of these different types of actors and explores potential synergies among them.     

Love,Marriage and the Division of Labor*

In this questionnaire study young engaged men and women were asked about the importance of love in marriage and the meaning of the concept “love.” Marital goals and criteria for mate choice were also explored. A highly consistent image of marriage as an institution in which to realize a comprehensive companionship with a partner of compatible temperament and life goals emerged. These findings have demonstrable implications for existing theoretical formulations concerning the dysfunctional aspects of the love marriage in contemporary American society in which it is contended that “romantic idealization” during courtship leads to a high incidence of dissatisfaction and disruption. Findings from numerous studies are assimilated to present an alternative explanation for marital conflict in the context of the modern division of labor in which the spheres of work and the family are poorly integrated, particularly in view of sharp role segregation by sex.