Dimensions Of Work Research Articles

Long-lasting effects of a depressed labor market: Evidence from Mexico after the great recession

This paper investigates the magnitude of employment and earnings losses in Mexico induced by the Great Recession. Using longitudinal social security data and exploiting regional variation in local shocks, we identify a variety of labor market responses during the recession. We find that the costs of the recession were substantial and unequal. In the short run, a local shock of one standard deviation above the average reduced the probability of employment by 0.53% and daily wages by 0.86% in the formal sector, compared to pre-recession levels. In the long run, formal employment and wages for affected workers never returned to pre-recession levels. The effects of the recession were heterogeneous across workers, and they were disproportionately negative for men and younger workers. We also estimate the different dimensions of workers’ adjustment in response to the recession: we find that a shock that is one standard deviation above the mean reduced employment by the end of the recession, while increasing unemployment, informality, the economically inactive population, and migration to the U.S.

Investigating the relationship between noise and occupation on the status of mental disorders and depression of workers using questionnaire (DASS) and (BAKK) in steel industries

Introduction: In most industrial environments, people are exposed to noise daily. Exposure to this physical hazard can lead to cognitive impairment in individuals. Noise, like all pollutants, reduces the quality of life and causes significant mood disorders in people. The present study examines a set of cognitive factors to assess the mental health status of workers in terms of depression and stress in a noisy workplace. Materials and Methods: In a descriptive-analytical study in 1399, 1100 steelworkers were evaluated to determine the degree of depression and mood swings. The data were analyzed through a public call at the Isfahan Steel Plant. ISO 9612 (2009) standard was used to measure the sound pressure level. In addition to conducting clinical interviews, subjects answered the BAKK Depression Inventory and the DASS-42 Inventory Depression Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (v. 22). Results: Based on the findings of the study, annoying noise (above 85 decibels) had a significant effect on age factor on depression, marital status factor on anxiety, and shift factor on stress and self-criticism of employees (p <0.05). The mean of the stress variable in the case group was significantly higher than the control group (p <0.001), which indicates the effect of sound intensity level on increasing stress and depression in a noisy environment. Conclusion: The results of this study: Occupational noise higher than the standard 85 dB can have devastating effects on moods and various dimensions of workers' cognitive status.

Risky scenario identification in a risk perception scale for construction workers in Thailand

Introduction: Construction sites exhibit unique hazardous characteristics. Hence, investigating the causes of fatal and nonfatal accidents is extremely important to promote safety on construction sites. Literature shows a risk perception (RP) scale for construction workers; to expand the existing research, this study aims to identify risky scenarios for assessing the RP of Thai construction workers, with the goal of reducing workplace incidents. Method: The scale development process consists of four phases. Item development was also performed, followed by factor analysis. Reliability and validity assessments were finalized in the process. A survey of 500 construction workers in Thailand was conducted to investigate risky scenarios. Through the process, a total of 17 items remained in the final RP scale, and the reliability and validity of these items were confirmed. Results: The RP scale was affirmed to have four dimensions (probability, severity, worry, and unsafe). These dimensions of workers’ RP were negatively correlated with the workers’ risk-taking behaviors. This study further showed that participants with a high level of affective RP were more likely to have a high level of cognitive RP. Hence, those with a high level of RP tended to be involved in fewer risk-taking behaviors. Practical Applications: The final version of the scale was reliable and valid in determining the RP and risk-taking behaviors of construction workers in Thailand.

The Effects of International Scrutiny on Manufacturing Workers: Evidence from the Rana Plaza Collapse in Bangladesh

After the tragic factory collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013, both the direct reforms and indirect responses of retailers have plausibly affected workers in the Ready Made Garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh. These responses included a minimum wage increase, high profile but voluntary audits, and an increased reluctance to subcontract to smaller factories. This paper uses six rounds of the Labor Force Survey and adopts a difference-in-difference approach to evaluate the net effects of these changes on garment workers, compared with workers in plausible control groups. Although employers have improved working conditions as intended by the reforms, the authors evidence adverse effects on several dimensions workers'outcomes in the years following Rana Plaza. While the reforms initially increased female workers'wages and the likelihood to hold a formal contract in the months that immediately followed Rana Plaza, they then declined in the following years. In contrast, no adverse effect is detected for male workers. The results suggest that regulations initially aimed at helping workers can have unintended adverse effects on some dimensions of workers'outcomes.

The New Hazardous Jobs and Worker Reallocation

This paper analyses several dimensions of workers' safety that are relevant in the context of a pandemic. We provide a classification of occupations according to the risk of contagion: by considering a wider range of job characteristics and a more nuanced assessment of infection risk, we expand on the previous literature that almost exclusively looked at feasibility of working from home. We apply our classification to the United States and to European countries and we find that roughly 50% of jobs in our sample can be considered safe, although a large cross-country variation exists, notably in the potential incidence of remote working.We find that the most economically vulnerable workers (low-educated, low-wage workers, immigrants, workers on temporary contracts, and part-timers) are over-represented in unsafe jobs, notably in non-essential activities. We assess the nature of the reallocation of workers from unsafe to safe jobs that is likely to take place in the years to come, and the policies that could mitigate the social cost of this reallocation.

Occupational Stress Perception and Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Workers

A survey was performed in 2008 on a representative stratified sample of 245 railroad employees in Slovenia (168 blue-collar and 77 white-collar workers) with the aim of exploring different dimensions of workers’ lifestyle health. For this purpose a special questionnaire was developed. The intensity of perceived job stress was measured with one general index based on a 4-point ordinal scale. There were 54.3% of employees who perceived their work as stressful or very stressful. No significant differences between blue- and white-collar workers were found. Twenty-six dimensions of lifestyle were measured. There were 66.9% of interviewed employees who were found to be overweight or obese (BMI 25 or higher). Differences in lifestyle between blue- and white-collar workers were not significant at the level of 0.05, except for some dimensions: blue-collar workers spend more time in the open air and sunlight and consume lunch as the main meal more regularly. In general, lifestyle was not confirmed as statistically significant (at 0.05 level) moderator of perceived job stress, explaining just 11% of variance. However, there are some dimensions that are significantly (P

The Relationship between New Work Practices and Employee Effort

In the context of the debate about the effectiveness of implementing new work practices, such as job rotation, teamwork and enhancing job autonomy, this article analyses their relationship with different dimensions of workers’ effort. Using two different but complementary data sets, our study reveals that in general these new work practices are associated to greater voluntary and involuntary mental effort, with a weaker link with involuntary physical effort. Besides this general trend our study also shows that different practices play different roles in different dimensions of employee effort.

Globalising justice within coffee supply chains? Fair Trade, Starbucks and the transformation of supply chain governance

This paper reviews a range of initiatives that attempt to transform the global institutional arrangements through which production and trade of coffee is organised and governed. Specifically, it examines the Fair Trade system, Starbucks' CAFÉ Practices Program, and a range of wider campaigning activities around issues of ‘trade justice’. These initiatives are shown to have contributed to the empowerment of marginalised workers and producers in the global coffee industry, to the extent that they have complied with the following three conditions: promoting the acceptance of expanded responsibility for tackling disempowerment among relevant decision makers in the global North; strengthening institutional capabilities necessary for these responsibilities to be effectively discharged; and enabling marginalised groups themselves to exercise some control over processes of institutional transformation. However, these initiatives have typically been designed as discrete systems of ‘supply chain’ governance, which has limited their ability to advance those dimensions of worker and producer well-being that are shaped by a range of state and non-state actors beyond as well as within supply chain institutions. In theory this limitation could be overcome via appropriate allocation and co-ordination of partial and shared responsibilities across a plurality of relevant decision makers. In practice, however, the failure of these initiatives to develop either transparent means of defining the boundaries of partial responsibilities, or institutional modalities to enable their co-ordination, has significantly weakened their capacity to entrench empowerment principles throughout the governance system of the coffee industry as a whole. It is concluded that the development of such conceptual and institutional models will be necessary to enable both consistency and enforceability of empowerment outcomes, and thereby to ensure that principles of justice can be realised among workers and producers throughout the global coffee industry.

Manufacturing simulation: computer aided tolerancing for process planning

The simulation of the process planning is a decisive stage in the manufacturing process of a set of parts. This simulation is generally carried out by the calculation of the working dimensions (WD) according to the blueprint dimensions (BPD), to the means of production and to the machining process. The calculation and the generating of the working dimensions can be done by using different methods such as the transfer method, the dispersion method and the tolerance chart method. This article presents a system of automatic generating of the working dimensions (WD) through the tolerance chart method. From the blueprint dimensions and from the process planning proposed, the system allows the automatic generating of three graphs: the blueprint dimensions graph, the blueprint dimensions and the stock removal graph, as well as the working dimensions graph. After the drawing of the two last graphs, the dimensional chains appear in the matrix from: Y=PX. At last, the calculation of the tolerance intervals for each dimension is done from the resolution of an equation system according to the minimum economic tolerances imposed by the manufacturing process and to the weight assigned to the tolerances. (Received in July 2005, accepted in October 2005. This paper was with the authors 1 month for 1 revision.)