ABSTRACT Despite their significant and growing role in the European workforce, to date, little research attention has been paid to immigrant workers’ attitudes towards trade unions and provided mixed results. On the one hand, immigrants are expected to be more positive towards unions due to their lower economic capital and greater need for job protection. On the other hand, immigrants may hold more pessimistic attitudes towards unions because of their reduced social network, lower perceived benefits of collective action and unions’ historical aversion to immigrant workers. Here, we contribute to this understudied field of research by concentrating on increasing job precarity in non‐standard employment forms which is highly concentrated among immigrant workers. More specifically, we ask to what extent does the internationalization of the workforce and the increasing presence of non‐standard employment relate to attitudes towards trade unions in advanced democracies? We argue that immigrants in precarious employment face a double vulnerability where the distinct importance of the workplace for the social and political integration of immigrants, the reinforcement of pre‐existing immigrant‐specific labour market discrimination, and the link between employment and residence status could explain why job precarity has particularly negative effects on immigrants´view of unions compared to natives. Using an original survey data from 13 Western European countries, we show that while immigrant status alone is not a predictor of attitudes towards unions, immigrants in temporary contracts have significantly more adverse attitudes towards unions than those immigrants in permanent contracts. Importantly, when compared with native workers, there is a wider cleavage in attitudes towards unions among immigrant workers based on the precarity of their employment status, highlighting this clear intersection of immigrant status and employment precarity in shaping attitudes towards unions. Our findings highlight a crucial issue that needs to be addressed for the future sustainability of social dialogue and industrial relations in Europe.

ABSTRACT Productivity is a crucial goal for firms, yet training investments to develop employee skills and enhance productivity face scrutiny. Despite considerable research into training inputs and performance outcomes, several gaps remain. We investigate the differential effects of managerial and staff training on labour productivity, drawing on human capital theory to explain the value of training investment for workforce development. The analysis focuses on 19,289 firm‐year observations from the UK Employer Skills Survey and Investment in Training Survey paired with the Business Structure Database in five waves over a 9‐year period, accounting for potential selection bias. Examining several measures of training for different occupational categories and formal‐informal modes of training, we find that productivity rose with greater training investment for both managers and staff. Among staff occupational categories, training for professionals and associate professionals yielded particular benefits for the firm. The interaction of staff and managerial training generated further gains, illustrating the value of complementary skill development for different employee levels, especially prioritizing intensity of training expenditure over broad coverage.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the distributive impact and labour market spillovers of Uruguay's wage policy, which combines a national minimum wage with over 200 sectoral wage floors established through collective bargaining. Using matched employer–employee administrative data, we find that the wage policy reduces wage inequality by 3–6 log points in the lower tail of the wage distribution, particularly among male workers and in the early years of its implementation. Analysis of job dynamics reveals that inequality persists in specific groups with higher job displacement rates (4–8 percentage points), primarily observed in the lower end of the wage distribution and in highly impacted sectors. Despite this displacement, employment effects are minimal for these groups and virtually non‐existent for those experiencing lower job displacement.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)‐enabled technologies on employee pay in the United Kingdom. We use matched nationally representative data from the Employers’ Digital Practices at Work Survey and an original survey of 6000 UK workers and apply machine learning techniques to uncover relationships between AI technology and employee pay across qualification and occupation skill groups. We find that lower skilled workers were the primary beneficiaries of AI, but this effect was contingent on the extent of worker interaction with AI. Further analysis shows that employee involvement in pay determination facilitates a more equitable distribution of AI‐related pay benefits by enabling a significant uplift in pay among lower qualified workers. Overall, while the implications of AI for pay outcomes are broadly positive, the study highlights the need to strengthen workplace voice mechanisms to ensure a more equitable distribution of benefits from the growing use of AI.

ABSTRACT We investigate the labour market integration of humanitarian and non‐humanitarian migrants in Australia using longitudinal data from the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) surveys. In particular, we analyse the employment probabilities and income levels of immigrants and humanitarian immigrants who arrived at a similar time through the Kitagawa–Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition. Disparities in employment outcomes can be traced back to differences in human capital, particularly education and English proficiency. However, the analysis reveals that the main factor underpinning differences in labour market outcomes is the discrimination experienced by humanitarian migrants, which persists over the 5‐year window covered by the data. The results support the conclusion that the forces of labour demand and supply are unlikely to remove the discrimination disadvantaging humanitarian migrants without targeted interventions.

ABSTRACT David Marsden enriched and extended the field of employment relations with his interdisciplinary and comparative practice. This introduction to the special issue honouring his work examines the nature of David's contribution and analyses his influence on employment relations and adjacent fields. The article highlights David's original engagement with the social science questions of his day, and his comparative craft, which entailed sensitivity to difference and a commitment to grounded, institutionally embedded analysis. Previewing the articles that make up this special issue, this introduction shows how David's work provides signposts to a better world of work.