Precarious work (i.e., work that is insecure and uncertain, often low-paying, and in which the risks of work are shifted from employers and the government to workers) has emerged as a serious concern for individuals and families and underlies many of the insecurities that have fueled recent populist political movements. The impacts of precarious work differ among countries depending on their labor market and welfare system institutions, laws and policies, and cultural factors. This article examines how people in six advanced industrial countries representing different welfare and employment regimes-Denmark, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States-differ both in their experience of precarious work and in outcomes of precarious work such as job and economic insecurity, entry into the labor force, and subjective well-being. It also suggests a new social and political contract needed to address precarious work and its consequences.

The efficiency of birth registration in Ireland is investigated in this article by comparing the number of registered births with Census age-distributions in the period 1916-1971. It is argued that there was a sudden increase in the efficiency of birth registration in 1942-1944 as a result of the greater incentives to register births whilst a certain amount of under-registration in the order of 3-10 per cent existed from 1916 to 1941. Generally speaking registration was more complete in Leinster and Munster than in Connacht and Ulster. After 1956 birth registration was more or less complete. (EXCERPT)