Volunteering and the gender division of labour: A Franco-British comparison

Cross-national analyses of the gender division of labour usually focus on employment and domestic labour. This paper argues that formal and informal voluntary work should be included in such analyses. Using available secondary sources, the paper compares the gender division of voluntary work in Britain and France – two countries with well-documented differences and similarities concerning employment and domestic labour. The paper reveals that French women, with a higher commitment to the labour market and a slightly larger share of the burden of domestic labour, have a higher commitment to formal voluntary activity but engage less in informal volunteering than their British counterparts whereas French men, with shorter hours in employment and a slightly smaller contribution to domestic labour, undertake more formal and informal voluntary work than their British counterparts. In France, men consistently undertake more voluntary work than women whilst in Britain, there is a degree of gender equality in formal voluntary work but women undertake significantly more informal voluntary work than men. The paper explains the differences and similarities found by considering the role of the state and social policy, the question of ‘time availability’, and the question of what motivates individuals to undertake voluntary work.     

Day Labourers' Work Related Injuries: An Assessment of Risks,Choices, and Policies

Literature and theory surrounding the informal economy in international contexts suggest that informal work arrangements may entail assuming various levels of risk, and that the higher the level of risk in an employment arrangement, the higher the premium paid to the worker. This study is designed to assess if a wage compensation for risk exists within the United States' day labour job market ‐ the most visible sector of the United States' informal economy. Using data from the 2005 National Day Labour Survey we find a statistically significant wage premium indicating that a risk‐wage tradeoff within the day labour informal economy exists. Ultimately, we argue that current policy interventions facilitated through day labour centres into the day labour market appear to be effective in mitigating the risks associated with this type of employment.

• Evidence of a risk‐wage premium in the day labour market suggests there is an incentive to assume higher levels of risk in work arrangements which presents significant concerns for worker safety.
• Higher levels of work related risks assumed by day labourers, may be minimized if they receive proper safety training through a formal venue such as a worker centre.
• Worker centres only serve 20 per cent of all day labourers in the United States, suggesting a need for the establishment of additional worker centres in other connected or industry based work sites, to help mitigate potential work related risks and injuries in the day labour market.

     

Deepening and widening the gap: The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender and racial inequalities in Brazil

Shaped by inconsistent policy decisions, the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has made structural gender and racial inequalities more acute. Black and low-income women are overburdened with unpaid domestic work, increased domestic violence, and more vulnerable due to informal and exploitative working regimes. These structural aspects are intensifying, since the pandemic has broadened inequalities at the intersection of gender, race, labor market, and social class. We examine pre- and during pandemic inequalities on three dimensions: (a) unpaid domestic and care work, (b) women's labor market participation, and (c) domestic violence. We link the care diamond model and racial stratification forwarding a feminist perspective by examining how the interlocking of race and gender in Brazil renders different socioeconomic dynamics to the detriment of Black and low-income women. Based on this evidence, we stress that a more equal future requires a better social protection and policies targeting the articulation of gender, race, and class.     

INFORMAL LABOR MARKETS AND ON‐THE‐JOB TRAINING: EVIDENCE FROM WAGE DATA

This study examines whether informal sector jobs are a source of training for young less‐educated workers. Controlling for worker and job characteristics, it is found that, in the early years of workers' careers in Mexico, wage growth in the informal sector is higher than in the formal sector. This result is consistent with general human capital investment on‐the‐job if the informal labor market is more competitive than the formal labor market due to frictions generated by labor regulations. (JEL O17, J24, J310)     

Inequalities in social capital and their longitudinal effects on the labour market entry

This study investigates socio-economic and ethnic inequalities in social capital and their effects on the process of the labour market entry. We use longitudinal data about the transition from school to work of lower- and middle educated young people in Belgium. Social capital is measured with three robust position generator measures. In line with previous studies, there are substantial socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in the access to social capital. Ethnic differences in social capital are, however, due to the socio-economic deprivation of ethnic minority groups in Belgium. Among the specific population of lower- and middle educated youth, knowing more people from the working class leads to a higher likelihood of entering the labour market versus continuing in education, whereas knowing more people from the higher service class results in a lower likelihood of entering the labour market. Especially the resources of strong ties such as relatives and friends are important for these decisions. In addition, once entered the labour market, social capital has an impact on the likelihood of getting a job. Lower- and middle educated labour market entrants who know more people from the working class are more likely to find work, whereas knowing people from the lower service class decreases the job chances. However, there is no evidence for social capital effects on the occupational status of the job among our population.     

The social investment approach as a field of job creation. From the ‘recalibration’ to a resurgent trade-off between employment growth and low wage (white) jobs. A comparison between Germany and Italy

The social investment approach emerged as a new welfare paradigm, aimed at reconciling the traditional functions of the welfare supply with a productive social agenda, designed at preparing people to confront the ‘new social risks’, whether they be related to the problem of balancing paid work and family responsibilities, upgrading the skills, preventing inequalities and promoting the availability of in-kind services. In order to achieve these objectives, especially those related to care needs and work-life balance, the adoption of social investment-based strategies necessarily implies an expansion of the jobs related to health and social care services. In more recent years, many studies have analysed the limitations of the social investment policies because of their different redistributive impacts on social groups. Several studies have found a higher use of these policies for high-income families. Another source of criticism on social investment is that spending on these policies would seem to crowd out more traditional passive social expenditures. In this article, we examine another question related to the widespread of this approach: what are the effects of the social investment policies in terms of direct job creation? In fact, one of the more controversial issues, related to social investment policies, is their direct contribution to the labour market in terms of both quantity and quality of work within welfare services. The article analyses these issues focusing on Germany and Italy, two countries that represent not only two different care regimes but also two distinct models regarding job creation strategies in the care sector. In doing so, particular attention will be paid to long-term care policies, as they represent one of the pivotal areas of the social investment approach, both in terms of social services, to address new social risks, and new jobs related to welfare services     

The causal effect of social capital on income: A new analytic strategy

This study identifies three groups of job seekers in terms of the channels used to search for jobs: the formal channel involving only official procedures to obtain a job, the informal channel using only social contacts to obtain a job, and the joint channel leveraging both social contacts and official procedures. The analysis of a national sample survey of China shows that joint channel users, due to their relatively higher level of social capital, not only make more job search attempts but also obtain higher income than formal channel users. Meanwhile, joint channel users, because of their relative advantages in both human capital and social capital, not only make more job attempts but also obtain higher income than informal channel users. The two comparisons offer a new strategy to test the causal role social capital plays in labour market success, regardless of whether social capital is exogenous or endogenous to human capital.     

Informality and Contributory and Non‐Contributory Programmes. Recent Reforms of the Social‐Protection System in Uruguay

Several countries in Latin America are expanding their social‐protection systems. There is an on‐going debate about the trade‐offs implied by these expansions, and by the resulting interactions between contributory and non‐contributory programmes with informality in the labour market. This article analyses the potential incentive effects for formal and informal employment from a set of social‐protection reforms implemented in Uruguay in the 1990s and 2000s. It presents empirical evidence of the expansion of health insurance to formal workers' dependants, and finds that this reform significantly increased formal employment. Finally, it discusses possible alternatives to extend social‐protection systems while maintaining incentives for formal work in Latin America's labour markets.     

Hierarchization and segmentation of informal care markets in Slovenia

The article is the result of qualitative research of informal care markets in Slovenia in the field of childcare, elder care, and cleaning. The author assesses Slovenia's position in the “global care chain” and finds that “local care chains” prevail in the field of childcare and elder care, while a co-occurrence of female gender, “other” ethnicity, and poverty is typical in the field of household cleaning. The main emphasis of the article is on the analysis of hierarchization of the informal market of care work according to following two criteria: social reputation of individual type of care work and citizenship status of care workers.     

Informal employment: Two contested policy issues

This article addresses two contested issues of crucial importance to policy, namely: formal labour regulations as a cause of informal employment, and so‐called “voluntary” informal employment. The authors provide theoretical overviews on both issues and an extensive survey of empirical studies on the effects of formal labour regulations on informal employment. The article closes with observations on the relevance of the ILO's four decent work objectives for informal employment and economic development, with particular emphasis on the significance of – and potential for – organizing workers in the informal economy.     

The Indian informal sector: The impact of globalization and reform

Globalization and economic reforms typically affect the formal sector, the informal sector existing outside regulation. Yet, numerous links between them mean the informal sector is variously affected. Traditionally, the model used to explain the impact of these forces was labour market segmentation and migration: workers laid off in the formal sector increase informal labour supply, leading to wage decline and increased poverty. The author examines whether this pattern applies in India following economic reforms in the 1990s, and finds a more appropriate model, driven by expansion both in labour supply and in demand, through outsourcing, skill transfers and new enterprises.     

“Breaking Even” under Intensification? Gendered Trade‐Offs for Women Milk Marketers in Kenya*

Despite the commonly vaunted “win‐win” prospect of combining intensified livestock production with greater gender equality, the benefits of formal marketization of livestock products are generally skewed toward men. In response to this global trend, there is a growing impetus to better understand the gender dynamics underlying women's market participation to curtail the risk of worsening gender inequalities in agricultural systems transitioning to intensified production. This study analyzes the spectrum of women's informal milk market practices in two Kenyan Counties undergoing dairy system intensification. Qualitative data were gathered from dairy stakeholders and market traders to explore the localized system of gender relations mediating women's engagement with milk markets and current practices. Results indicate that increased dairy intensification and informal market use is challenging existing gender norms and disrupting the boundaries between hegemonic (socially acceptable) and pariah (socially disruptive) gender relations. While women are generally better able to control the proceeds from their dairy labor in informal markets, they also face high social culpability and danger from engaging in illicit activities that transgress local norms. These contradictory “win‐lose” dynamics and trade‐offs highlight the contested nature of gender market relations under agricultural intensification and commercialization currently being pursued under low emissions dairy development (LEDD) in Kenya. The risk of exacerbating existing gender inequalities has profound implications for LEDD and agricultural intensification more broadly.     

Minimum Wages in a Segmented Labor Market: Evidence from South Africa

The segmented labor market model describes the impacts of minimum wages on covered and uncovered sectors. This paper examines the impacts of an industry-specific minimum wage in South Africa, a state characterized by high unemployment, a robust union movement, and the presence of a large informal sector. Under the industry-specific wage law, formal agricultural and household workers are covered, while workers in other sectors are not. The unique aspect of this paper lies in the ability to compare the impacts of minimum wage legislation on formal covered, informal covered, formal uncovered, and informal uncovered workers. This natural experiment allows us to test whether industry-specific minimum wage legislation leads to higher wages, whether wage increases are restricted solely to covered formal sectors or if there are spillover effects, and whether such legislation manifests in disemployment effects. We find evidence of higher wages yet disemployment among black workers in formal markets. In informal markets we find no employment effects, but higher wages in formal markets appear to have spilled over into informal markets in covered sectors.     

And roses too: How “Better Work” facilitates gender empowerment in global supply chains

Women's increasing entry into paid work has not been accompanied by a corresponding change in the gender division of unpaid labor in the household and community. Though women participate in the labor market, the expectation is that they will also take responsibility for the household. To what degree does women's waged work in the garment industry transform gender norms and dynamics in their home lives? To what extent do the choices they make translate to their household-level empowerment? This practice-focused article examines these questions by looking at data collected on gender dynamics at work and at home in the clothing industries of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Lesotho, and Vietnam. While women's empowerment through garment sector employment remains circumscribed by low wages, financial insecurity, and gendered expectations, we find that international interventions, namely the International Labor Organization's Better Work program, has expanded women's abilities to exert agency over their earnings within the context of household resource allocation and has decreased the negative effects of ongoing and systemic financial precarity.     

The globalization of production,national labour regulations and income inequality in the global North and South, 1980–2013

A central concern over global value chains (GVCs) is whether the integration of national firms into GVCs exacerbates income inequality within countries. However, despite decades of research, the distributional consequences of GVCs remain unclear in the empirical literature. Drawing on panel data from 96 countries between 1980 and 2013, we examine the effects of GVC integration on market income inequality and whether national labour regulations moderate these effects. We find integration increases inequality in the global North and South. More importantly, we find labour regulations amplify the inequality effects of integration in Southern countries by expanding the size of the informal sector while suppressing these effects in Northern countries by promoting unionization. This suggests institutional power from national labour regulations may enhance the bargaining power of labour in the North through increasing collective resources while disempowering labour in the South through reinforcing labour market segmentation between formal and informal sectors.     

Economic Penalties and Rewards of Family Formation,Gender and Education in the Low‐income Sector in Germany1

This article examines the differential effects of changes in family formations on men's and women's economic vulnerability. The motivating question is whether investments in education provide sufficient resources to escape the risk of poverty in the low‐income sector or if changes in household characteristics are more important determinants of one's living standard. Changes in household characteristics are defined in terms of partners' entry into and exit from households and partners' different labour market profiles. The analysis focuses on households in the low‐income sector in Germany, a population that is at high risk of poverty in a social welfare state that is expected to mitigate the effects of changes in family formation independent of gender. Findings from panel regression analysis demonstrate that women, in contrast to men, benefit economically as much as or more from investing in traditional family formations than in their own labour market position. This is especially the case for women with lower levels of education.     

Caring for informal caregivers: policy approaches to the provision of direct support services

Despite being the backbone of modern welfare states, the informal care sector for elderly people in need of long-term care is highly dysfunctional. The majority of informal caregivers are overburdened on account of their care-related activities, although an evolving market for support services directly aimed at relieving informal caregivers is observable. In this paper, we examine the reasons for the imperfect exchange between demand and supply in this market, applying the economic theory of market failure. Through a case study of Austria based on an empirical, qualitative survey of all direct support services and their suppliers on the national level as well as in three provinces, an understanding of this market's main players and mechanisms is derived. Thus, the authors determine that three different system types can be identified beyond the historical regional discrepancies. They illustrate the approaches to service provision for informal caregivers: centralized and public, laissez-faire and private, and a radically decentralized network for informal caregivers. Still, lack of information, social and psychological barriers, as well as high transaction costs, are identified which undermine the support service market for informal care. If the costs of the formal long-term care sector are to be contained despite demographic developments, better policy approaches will be necessary to overcome this challenge. In light of this, recommendations are derived to ensure a better exchange between supply and demand. By providing an initial empirical understanding and analysis of this market and its imperfections, the authors pioneer future quantitative research in this field.     

The ILO's Domestic Workers Convention and Recommendation: A window of opportunity for social justice

Domestic workers are a predominantly female workforce whose social and labour rights remained largely unattended for decades. Addressing this has become more urgent, as demand for household and personal care services is increasing. Convention No. 189 and Recommendation No. 201 set out global minimum standards for domestic work. The author first describes international labour and human rights law on domestic work prior to 2011. He then examines the instruments' definitions and scope and problems of particular groups; their provisions on working time, pay, work environment and living conditions; social security; and implementation and enforcement.     

Soziale Kontakte als weg aus der Erwerbslosigkeit

When the usefulness of social ties for the improvement of an individual’s labour market position is analysed, the unemployed are hardly ever considered. In this article it is shown how Granovetter’s “strength of weak ties”-theory (1973) can be modified to examine the likelihood of labour market entry of initially unemployed people with low incomes. Using longitudinal data of the German lowincome- panel (“Niedrigeinkommens-Panel”) 1998–2002, it is found that almost one third of the formerly unemployed respondents got their new job through social contacts. Event History Analyses show that a) the more strong social ties jobless have and b) the more heterogeneous their relationships are, the higher the probability that they find a job within the observed period. The significant positive effects of social network features also hold when well-known predictors for labour market performance such as duration of unemployment, health, education, gender, age and support by public employment services are controlled for.     

‘Not one of the family’: Gender and precarious work in the neoliberal university

Gender inequality within the university is well documented but proposals to tackle it tend to focus on the higher ranks, ignoring how it manifests within precarious work. Based on data collected as part of a broader participatory action research project on casual academic labour in Irish higher education, the article focuses on the intersection of precarious work and gender in academia. We argue that precarious female academics are non‐citizens of the academy, a status that is reproduced through exploitative gendered practices and evident in formal/legal recognition (staff status, rights and entitlements, pay and valuing of work) as well as in informal dimensions (social and decision‐making power). We, therefore, conclude that any attempts to challenge gender inequality in academia must look downward, not upward, to the ranks of the precarious academics.