Labour Demand

This article is based on a collaborative action research study between one teacher and a teacher educator and provides an account of the emotional labour in enacting caring teaching in an inclusive classroom. The emotional labour demanded in caring ...

ABSTRACT. The spatial distribution of households and firms, or urban spatial structure, is a core element of the study of urban economics and the crucial determinant of commuting patterns. This paper examines developments in the analysis of urban spatial structure and commuting are related to the urban labour market—that is the analysis of labour supply and labour demand in a spatial context. These developments have been overlooked in the traditional approach to urban structure and commuting where most attention has been devoted to the markets for land and housing rather than the market for labour. Yet a little reflection suggests that the labour market might have a great deal to do with the location decisions of households and firms, and hence with commuting patterns. We argue that much criticism of the economic analysis of urban structure and commuting can be addressed by explicit incorporation of the labour market into the conventional model of urban location. This criticism includes findings that the theory cannot explain the tendency for richer households to live farther from the central business district and commute farther to work (Wheaton, 1977) and findings of substantial unexplained or ‘wasteful’ commuting according to conventional theory (Hamilton, 1982). The paper begins by outlining the basic model of residential location and commuting (Section 2). We then consider extensions that involve the introduction of labour supply decisions and which determine the value of commuting time (Section 3). More recent extensions involve the introduction of decentralized workplaces (Section 4) and, logically, the issues of job search and migration (Section 5). We conclude with a summary of the progress in incorporating labour market behaviour into the analysis of urban structure and commuting and our suggestions for further research in this area.

This paper examines the gendered implications of Africa's transport gap (the lack of cheap, regular and reliable transport) for young people in rural Ghana, with particular reference to the linkages between restricted mobility, household work demands, access to education and livelihood potential. Our aim is to show how mobility constraints, especially as these interact with household labour demands, restrict young people's access to education and livelihood opportunities. Firstly, the paper considers the implications of the direct constraints on young people's mobility potential as they travel to school. Then it examines young people's (mostly unpaid) labour contributions, which are commonly crucial to family household production and reproduction, including those associated with the transport gap. This has especially important implications for girls, on whom the principal onus lies to help adult women carry the heavy burden of water, firewood, and agricultural products required for household use. Such work can impact significantly on their educational attendance and performance in school and thus has potential knock-on impacts for livelihoods. Distance from school, when coupled with a heavy workload at home will affect attendance, punctuality and performance at school: it may ultimately represent the tipping point resulting in a decision to withdraw from formal education. Moreover, the heavy burden of work and restricted mobility contributes to young people's negative attitudes to agriculture and rural life and encourages urban migration. Drawing on research from rural case study sites in two regions of Ghana, we discuss ethnographic material from recent interviews with children and young people, their parents, teachers and other key informants, supported by information from an associated survey with children ca. 9–18 years.

L'impatto del commercio internazionale su salari ed occupazione è un tema vivacemente dibattuto. La crescita simultanea delle importazioni di manufatti e delle disuguaglianze salariali e dei tassi di disoccupazione, rispettivamente negli Stati Uniti e in Europa, ha stimolato una ricca produzione di lavori empirici sull'esistenza di un nesso di causalità tra i due fenomeni. 1 La maggior parte delle analisi ha adottato o l'approccio “factor-content”, che mette in relazione i valori dei differenziali salariali con i dati del contenuto fattoriale del ...

A number of Australian studies have provided microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives on the causes of, and solutions to, Australia's unemployment problem. This paper provides an evaluation of these studies. Several important findings can be noted. First, from the cross-sectional studies economists have gained a good understanding of the factors contributing to a high probability of unemployment. Effective use is currently being made of this information. Second, there is general consensus from the time-series studies regarding the estimates of the aggregate labour demand wage and output elasticities. In addition, it has been widely acknowledged that lower real wages and economic growth would help reduce the high rate of unemployment. Despite the information available we are making slow progress towards reducing the unemployment rate. This may be due to political reasons or because we are unsure of how to deliver the wage cuts and faster rates of economic growth presented as solutions to the unemployment problem.

Student choice is at the center of many discussions about higher education policy. At the same time, and regardless of the emphasis put on achieving an important endowment of graduates trained in science and engineering, participation in these fields is stagnated or declining. Evidence suggests that the provision of additional scholarships for science and engineering students or abolishing the tuition fees will have practically no impact. The major problem seems to be that science and engineering programs suffer from a poor image, including as being difficult, leading to lower earning potentials than other specializations. The present study contributes to our understanding of the student choice process by highlighting by means of binomial probit with selection model (Van den Ven and Van Praag, 1981) the factors and dimensions that influence the choicew of field of study. Specifically, we will show the role that non-pecuniary rewards play in the selection process. Using results from ...

L'impatto del commercio internazionale su salari ed occupazione è un tema vivacemente dibattuto. La crescita simultanea delle importazioni di manufatti e delle disuguaglianze salariali e dei tassi di disoccupazione, rispettivamente negli Stati Uniti e in Europa, ha stimolato una ricca produzione di lavori empirici sull'esistenza di un nesso di causalità tra i due fenomeni. 1 La maggior parte delle analisi ha adottato o l'approccio “factor-content”, che mette in relazione i valori dei differenziali salariali con i dati del contenuto fattoriale del ...

L'impatto del commercio internazionale su salari ed occupazione è un tema vivacemente dibattuto. La crescita simultanea delle importazioni di manufatti e delle disuguaglianze salariali e dei tassi di disoccupazione, rispettivamente negli Stati Uniti e in Europa, ha stimolato una ricca produzione di lavori empirici sull'esistenza di un nesso di causalità tra i due fenomeni.

The study develops a real wage series for Germany c. 1500-1850 and analyzes its relationship with population size. From 1690 data density allows the estimation of a structural time series model of this relationship. The major results are the following: First, there was a strong negative relationship between population and the real wage until the middle of the seventeenth century. The dramatic rise of material welfare during the Thirty Years' War was thus entirely due to the war-related population loss. Second, the ...

This article explores the paradox of women’s academic employment in Turkey. There is a low rate of female labour market participation in the formal sector, yet a higher proportion of women professors than in any of the 25 European Union countries. We use a range of data to set the Turkish labour market and its higher education sector in comparative European perspective, then present findings from two qualitative studies of Turkish professors, concluding that ideological state support rather than legal frameworks of equal opportunities laid the foundations for women’s hierarchical achievements in Turkey. However, the explanation is multilayered and lies in the cumulative and interrelated effect of state policy, institutional transparency, increased labour demand, the home-work interface, and the agency of the professors themselves.

The paper aims to provide a representation, as rich and complete as possible, of the Chinese labour market, both in terms of stock and flow, despite the fact that the statistical information is still rather poor and often inconsistent. It does then document the increasing differences in the level and trends of the main labour market variables at the provincial level. In order to reach a deeper comprehension of the dynamic of the Chinese labour market, the paper analyses two other extremely relevant phenomena: the so called “floating population” and the labour shortages that are more and more frequently affecting the coastal regions. After having provided a demographic background to the Lewis model of development with unlimited supply of labour, the paper shows in which periods China has been obliged to accumulate a large labour surplus, mainly in the agricultural sector, and in which periods and through which mechanisms, including ageing and internal migration, the process of deaccu...

The looming water crisis and water-intensive nature of rice cultivation are driving the search for alternative management methods to increase water productivity in rice cultivation. Experiments were conducted under on-station and on-farm conditions to compare rice production using modified methods of irrigation, planting, weeding and nutrient management with conventional methods of cultivation. Farm surveys were used to evaluate adoption of modified rice cultivation method. On-station experiments showed that, a combination of water-saving irrigation, young seedling or direct seeding, mechanical weeding and green manure application increased the rice water productivity though the largest yields were obtained for a combination of conventional irrigation, young seedling or direct seeding, mechanical weeding and green manure application. On-farm experiments demonstrated a yield advantage of 1.5 t ha−1 for the modified method over conventional method. We found, however, that yield advantages were not the sole factor driving adoption. Associated changes required in management, including the increased labour demand for modified planting, unwillingness of agricultural labourers to change practices, difficulties with modified nursery preparation and the need to replace cheaper women’s labour for hand weeding with more costly men’s labour for mechanical weeding, all reduced the chance of adopting the modified rice cultivation method. Risks associated with water-saving irrigation, such as uncertainty about the timing and amount of water release for irrigation affect adoption adversely as well. There was no incentive for farmers to adopt water-saving irrigation as water from reservoirs and electricity for pumping well-water are both free of charge. To date farmers continue to experiment with the modified cultivation method on a small part of their farms, but are unlikely to adopt the modified method on a large-scale unless policies governing water management are changed.

Trade has predominantly contributed in the development of world economies for more than mere agricultural development and industrialisation. Trade involves many regions across the globe. The more the regions involved, the more will be the benefits. Trade is an interaction between economies for the exchange of goods, services, skills, knowledge and expertise, which is required for bringing in the desired changes like increase in the availability of choices, reduction of extreme poverty, and enhancement of physical and mental capability. As the wave of market oriented moves has spread over the economic sphere, global trend has also been witnessed in the liberalisation of capital account, foreign exchange, credit, domestic consumption and trading sector of many countries. The

In an era of globalisation, patterns of economic growth and employment will depend critically upon domestic labour market conditions. This paper presents empirical evidence on how labour market regulations might interact with expanded trade. We present numerical model simulations of recent trade reform proposals for Chile. Firstly, we analyse how these reforms affect the economy in a perfectly competitive labour markets framework, then we modify this by introducing various kind of labour market imperfections considered relevant in this country. Previous research efforts usually focused separately either on the significance of trade, or on the effect of labour market regulations as explanations for variations in the wage gap and labour demand. Our results show that interactions between labour market regulations and expanded trade may explain the Chilean widening wage gap.