Mechanisms of control in the temporary help service industry

As firms increasingly rely on temporary clerical workers, previous control mechanisms centered in the workplace no longer are sufficient to maintain labor discipline and ensure production quality and uniformity. Through participant observation of four temporary help service firms and two placement sites, this case study reveals forms of control that differ from those in place at more commonly studied manufacturing enterprises. Temporary help service firms have developed a dualistic form of control that operates on two levels: (1) a decentralized level, whereby the temporary help service firm indirectly controls workers; and (2) a bureaucratic level, whereby the temporary help service firm rationalizes jobs in the organization's hierarchy by delimiting a set of tasks, competencies, and responsibilities.     

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.     

Employment growth in high-tech new ventures

We specify and estimate a model of the early employment growth of technology-driven new ventures. Our estimated model is derived from labor demand theory. A data set of 100 German firms is used to conduct this analysis. The study’s findings support the relevance of the theory as applied to these nascent firms. Employment growth is significantly enhanced in ventures exhibiting high profits, experienced founders, formal information processes, and outsourced product distribution. Our findings also confirm aspects of Penrose’s theory of firm growth suggesting that transactions costs associated with larger founder teams may inhibit employment growth.     

Constructing markets for temporary labour: employment liberalization and the internationalization of the staffing industry

Abstract Temporary staffing has joined the ranks of the globalizing service industries. The largest agencies have now established a presence in more than sixty nations, where they are placing employees in temporary positions across a range of occupations, from clerical, cleaning and light industrial work through to accountancy, law and IT. The opening up of new occupational and geographical markets around the world has been driven by the imperative to sustain growth in sales volumes, in this business of tight margins and fierce competition. The most lucrative of the staffing industry's ‘emerging markets’ are found in the actively deregulating economies of the global North ‐ including Spain, Germany, Italy and Japan. While exploring how the staffing industry has been active in the construction of these markets, we argue that this fast‐growing business has become an important agent of labour market liberalization.     

Globalization and supply chain networks: the auto industry in Brazil and India

The automotive industries of emerging markets were transformed in the 1990s by trade liberalization and large investments by global assemblers. The impact of these investments was decisively influenced by government policies aimed at promoting local production and assembly of vehicles and by changing assembler—supplier relationships in the global auto industry. The cases of Brazil and India show how the assemblers created new linkages between operations in emerging markets and their global operations through the adoption of follow design and follow sourcing policies. These policies were hard to implement in practice, but they decisively transformed the components industries in both countries.     

Patterns and determinants of union growth in the hospital industry

Recent changes in the National Labor Relations Act have increased the possibility that union coverage will expand among private non-profit hospitals. This study examines the success of union organizing efforts in the industry during the 1974–1978 period. The analysis focuses on the influence of environmental and organizational variables as well as the nature of the election process itself. The results suggest that hospital union success is largely dependent uponprior union success in the hospital (+), voter turnout (−) and unit size (−). The annual rate of election victories is predicted to fall to nearly 25 % by 1983 from an average of 50% in the 1974–1978 period.     

Employment success of social assistance recipients: A provincial analysis by industry

Poverty continues to burden millions of Canadians each year, and social assistance (SA) is one program that provides last-resort financial assistance, conditional upon looking for and accepting work. Using tax panel data of SA recipients from across seven Canadian regions between 2000 and 2018, we model the probabilities of employment success (ES) across industry of employment, SA benefit amounts, unionization, and individual-level characteristics. We adopt an economic stance to explain reliance upon SA, examining the broader macroeconomic indicators of ES, and to demonstrate the factors associated with exiting SA. We find that many SA recipients do not present evidence of recent employment, indicating a disconnect between stated SA program aims and their outcomes. We provide evidence for increased SA benefits and unionization as significant predictors of ES of SA recipients.     

Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry

While the literature has long acknowledged worker rights abuses in global apparel supply chains, less attention has been paid to the recent worsening of certain decent work deficits and its causes, which this article links to predatory purchasing practices arising from growing power asymmetries. These practices, illustrated here by the garment export industry in India, exert downward pressure on wages and incite non‐standard forms of employment and greater verbal and physical abuse as productivity demands rise. They can be addressed through pricing mechanisms that cover the cost of decent work, appropriate State regulation and worker involvement.     

城市服务业发展的环境要素与经济增长

一、城市服务业发展环境要素及其特点在西方经济学中,外部环境又被称为外部性（外部影响）,是指一个经济活动的主体对他所处的经济环境的影响。外部性的影响会造成私人成本与社会成本、私人收益与社会收益不一致,比较容易造成市场失灵。     

Employment problems under declining population growth rates and structural change: the case of Yugoslavia

The case of Yugoslavia since World War 2 generally confirms the find ings of Coale and Hoover some 15 years ago that a declining population gives a developing society a chance to grow at a more rapid rate because less of the gross national product is devoted to merely maintaining the status quo. However, until recently insufficient attention was paid to the long-term effects of rapid population growth plus underdevelopment, namely, surplus labor and unemployment. Yugoslavia is currently suffereing the aftereffects of a history of labor surplus caused by high birthrates, especially in the southern Moslem regions. The birthrate was as high as 35/1000 until 1927, took a downward turn during the depression, falling to 26/1000 in 1939, became even more depressed during World War 2, then reached 26-30/1000 in the postwar years. After 1957 a steady decline set in. The rate was around 18/1000 in the early 1970s. Because of the underdeveloped, highly agrarian economy, Yugoslavia has traditionally been a source of abundant labor and emigration. Statistical data has been either nonexistent or unreliable, but there have been self-evident differences in the size of individual cohorts which have had definite bearing on the working-age population. Following World War 2 the country changed from a predominantly peasant, subsistence economy to an industrial socialist society. There has been a steady decline in the participation rate in the work force, from an estimated 46.5% in 1948 to 43.3% in 1971, primarily due to increased education, declining child labor, and greater retirement among older workers. However, the growth of the working-age group was faster than that of the total population because of the high postwar birthrates. Th ere was significant increase in employment from 1,517,000 in 1948 to 4,034,000 in 1971. At the same time the agricultural labor force decrea sed from 70% of total employment to 48%. Despite the industrial growth, in 1971 there were over 290,000 unemployed persons, some 600,000 underemployed in agriculture, and another 700,000 temporarily employed abroad. Together these figures represent almost 1/3 of total employment in the socialist sector. The Yugoslav experience demonstrates the magnitude of employment problems in a developing society and the time needed to solve them.     

The growth of halal meat markets in Europe: An exploration of the supply side theory of religion

Over the last 15 years dedicated markets for halal meat have emerged in a number of European countries. While ethnic stores still constitute the major retail outlet for halal meat in most countries, ‘halal’ labelled meat and meat products are increasingly available in supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Market expansion has also facilitated the rise of new certification bodies, each with their own marketing strategies and interpretations of what constitutes authentic ‘halal’, who question the reliability of certification policies that allow the practice of stunning before slaughter.     

新型能源替代化石能源的有效途径——低碳燃料排放标准

一旦谈论起“能源安全”和“大气变化”,交通运输就是罪魁祸首,因为它消耗了世界上一半的石油,并造成将近1／4的温室气体排放。在美国情况则更为严重,交通运输消耗了2／3的石油,形成了1／3的温室气体排放。由于汽车、飞机、轮船几乎完全依赖石油,为了能源安全和防治空气污染,     

Qualified Employment in the Third Sector in Portugal

Departing from regulation theories and varieties of capitalism school this article focuses on employment in the third sector. We start by discussing the emergence of the new third sector in the western world. In the second part of the article, we provide an overview of the third sector in Portugal today. The ideal values of the organizations of the third sector, namely the principles of democratic and participative management, the primacy of people and work over capital, and the centrality of social capital, frame the discussion of empirical data regarding the wage relation that characterizes the University of Porto (UP) graduates currently working in the third sector. We end with a critical discussion of the optimistic expectations and projections that loom over the third sector regarding the construction of an alternative model of social and economic development based on justice and equity.     

Precarity in the Nonprofit Employment Services Sector

Drawing on interview and focus group data, this article explores research undertaken as part of a larger research project exploring precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector in a mid‐sized Canadian city. We critically survey major legislative changes to Canadian employment and income security policies and programs, including the restructuring of work and labor relations, growth of performance‐based contracting‐out, erosion of intergovernmental transfers, worker stress, and emotional tolls. Our study's results demonstrate how employment precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector is amplified by top‐down and centralized relationships with funding partners and policymaking divorced from the employment experiences of frontline staff. We make the case that it is important to work against rising workplace precarity to strengthen organizational and workplace conditions, as well as build environments more supportive of optimal employment support services. En se fondant sur des entretiens et des données découlant de groupes témoins, cet article présente des explorations entreprises dans une recherche plus large étudiant la précarité dans le secteur des emplois de service dans une ville canadienne de taille moyenne. Nous faisons une revue critique de changements importants intervenus dans la législation portant sur l'emploi au Canada et les politiques et programmes de la sécurité du revenu, incluant la restructuration du travail et des relations de travail, l'augmentation de la privatisation se fondant sur la performance, la diminution des transferts intergouvernementaux, le stress au travail et les conséquences émotionnelles. Les résultats de notre recherche démontrent comment la précarité de l'emploi dans les secteurs des services à but non lucratif est amplifiée par des relations allant du haut vers le bas et centralisée avec des partenaires et des politiques séparés de l'expérience des travailleurs sur le terrain. Nous démontrons qu'il est important de travailler contre la précarisation en renforçant les conditions organisationnelles et de travail, tout en construisant des environnements favorisant une offre de services de l'emploi optimaux.     

Polarization in Mothers' Employment

Using secondary analysis of large, nationally representative government data sets, we explore the interaction of occupational class and the age of youngest child in mothers' labour force participation. We show that levels of full-time working vary markedly in each occupational class and by age of youngest child. Within part-time working, the principal form of labour force participation for mothers, there are marked class differences in eligibility for ‘short-term’ and ‘long-term’ employment rights, as well as in the ‘quality’ of part-time working. We suggest that the impact on mothers' employment of the age of the youngest child is mediated by mothers' occupational class and conclude that there is growing evidence of polarities in the employment experience of mothers in different occupational classes.     

加快现代服务业发展,为区域发展服务

2005年4月,天津市政府提出了<天津市加快发展现代服务业实施纲要>及配套重点项目,为贯彻纲要精神,尽快展开重点项目规划布局,提升规划设计研究工作为政府服务的职能,我们结合<天津市城市总体规划>,开展了如何加快天津市现代服务业发展的相关研究,现将一些初步想法和建议提出来与有关专家进行交流,渴望得到各位的指导和帮助.