Domestic Employment Research Articles

Technical Efficiency and Employment Elasticity in Korea’s Manufacturing Industry

Purpose This paper analyzes how wages, capital stock, exports, imports, overseas direct invesments (ODI) as well as technical efficiency affect employment elasticity in Korea’s manufacturing industry. Design/Methodology/Approach To analyze determinants of employment elasticity in the manufacturing sector, we measure technical efficiency by using the stochastic production frontier model. Using panel data consisting of 40 manufacturing industries drawn from the Industrial Statistical Analysis System (ISTANS), we clarify what negatively affected employment elasticity during the period between 2005 and 2019. Findings Our empirical analysis shows that ODI and capital have statistically significant and positive effects on employment elasticity while wage and imports have statistically significant and negative effects. Moreover, employment elasticity increases as technical efficiency improves. Our study implies that the establishment of a global network through overseas direct investment contributes to increasing domestic employment. Also, capital appears to have a complementary relationship with employment so that investment is important to increasing employment. Research Implications In the case of manufacturing industries with a comparative disadvantage, it is necessary to promote industrial restructuring to increase technical efficiency and promote the relocation of labor.

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy among ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Ethnic minorities account for 8% of the Hong Kong population, most are Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers taking care of children and the elderly. To understand the COVID-19 vaccination rates and factors associated with vaccine acceptance of ethnic minorities, we performed a cross-sectional questionnaire study recruiting Hong Kong ethnic minorities aged ≥18 years between 1 July and 18 July 2021 in public areas. Demographics, knowledge about COVID-19, vaccination status, intention and reasons to receive the vaccine, and planning to be re-vaccinated were analyzed. Continuous and categorical variables were compared using unpaired t-test and Chi-square test, respectively. Potential confounders were adjusted using multiple logistic regression. 2,012 ethnic minorities participated, with a mean age of 39 years, of which 97.6% were female, 79.5% were Filipino, and 17.5% were Indonesian. 80.6% of participants were categorized as vaccine acceptance, and 69.2% were willing to be re-vaccinated. There were significantly more Filipinos than Indonesians in the vaccine acceptance group (p < .001). Subjects in the vaccine acceptance group were more likely to have higher education (p < .001), a higher COVID-19 knowledge score (p < .001), received information from the Government website (p = .003) and not from their friends or family members (p = .02), and were more confident in judging the accuracy of the information (p < .001). Logistic regression showed the mean knowledge score (β = 3.07, p < .001) and receiving information from official Government websites (adjusted OR = 1.37, p = .03) were significant factors that positively influenced vaccine acceptance. The Hong Kong Government should improve COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among ethnic minorities through public education using official channels.

Covid-19 and the Politics of Gastronomic Consumerism in Pandemic India

Food culture has always been a definitive marker of identity throughout the ages, reflecting transformations social orders have undergone over time. Consumerism finds its most potent manifestation in food cultures, especially in terms of the type of food consumed (imported, ready-to-eat, frozen etc.) and the modes in which it is consumed (at restaurants, dine-ins, online ordering). The Covid-19 pandemic situation saw drastic transformations in the way Indians perceived and consumed food and drinks, with the gig economy and home-made food industry flourishing. The lockdown and associated restrictions led to a sharp decline in the number of people eating out at restaurants, hotels and cafes. Besides, the work-at-home culture made leisure possible for a significant section of the middle-class, propelling the subjects to cook at home, often leading to the emergence of local food-based start-ups. Domestic servitude declined due to the upper-class suspicion of maids and “lowly” domestic employees who came from “unclean” locales. As such, homemakers and working subjects, especially women, began cooking on their own, leading to innovative food cultures and novel modes of gastronomic consumerism. The paper attempts to explore the multifaceted modes in which the Covid-19 situation propels transformations in gastronomic consumer culture and the “culture industry” in India, as revealed through surveys, published reports and social media pages. The study would also engage with the modes in which gender, class and caste intersect with pandemic consumerism in the gastronomic arena, thereby developing a holistic perspective on how it affects consumer and food cultures across social groups in India.

Development of Computer Vision Algorithms for Multi-class Waste Segregation and Their Analysis

Classification of waste for recycling has been a focal point for scientists interested in the field of conservation of the environment. Recycling consists of numerous steps, of which one of the most crucial is the segregation of recyclables from all other waste. Due to a lack of safety standards in developing countries, waste collection is often done manually by domestic helpers, or "rag-pickers". Such a process risks individual and public health. The waste collection methods may ultimately cause waste to become non-recyclable due to cross-contamination. Literature shows that research in this direction focuses on a single class of waste detection. The proposed work investigates CNN, YOLO, and faster RCNN-based multi-class classification methods to detect different types of waste at the collecting point. The smart dustbin proposed employs these computer vision methods with a Raspberry Pi microcontroller and camera module. The experimental results for multi-class classification show that the CNN has 80% of accuracy with 60% of the loss. Whereas the YOLO algorithm shows an accuracy of 88% and a loss of 40%. But the best results were obtained from faster RCNN object detection with API, with an accuracy of 91% and a loss of 16%. There is already an existing method for making a smart dustbin, so the results are compared to show how computer vision can be used to make a smart dustbin. This shows how computer vision can be used to make a smart dustbin. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-06-03-015 Full Text: PDF

Employment effects of joining global production networks: Does domestic value added matter?

AbstractIs the emphasis placed on domestic value added in trade and industry policy‐making in developing countries consistent with the objective of employment generation through an export‐oriented development strategy? This paper examines the rationale behind this policy emphasis by first revisiting the conventional case for using the value‐added ratio as policy guidance and then undertaking an input–output analysis of the manufacturing industry in Thailand with emphasis on domestic employment generation. The analysis is based on a panel data set covering 74 manufacturing sectors from 1990 to 2015. The findings do not support the widely shared view that industries with a high value‐added ratio have greater potential to create domestic export‐induced employment. The policy implication of the results is that, in this era of economic globalization driven by global production networks, national industry policy needs to be guided by the market potential of products.

Cultural Contingencies of Resources: (Re)conceptualizing Domestic Employees in the Context of Globalization

Cultural Contingencies of Resources: (Re)conceptualizing Domestic Employees in the Context of Globalization

Addressing the effects of COVID-19 on agriculture and food security situation in Africa

Purpose. The COVID-19 pandemic has had many adverse impacts socially, economically and physically on various sectors across the world. Agriculture is the backbone for many economies in Africa. Additionally, it contributes significantly to the gross domestic product and employment of many African citizens. In Africa, COVID-19 had an impact on agriculture and food security. This paper through a theoretical review of various articles and books, sought to highlight the positive and negative effects of COVID-19 on the food security situation in Africa. The key objective of the paper was to highlight the link between the global pandemic, agriculture and food systems in Africa and provide solutions towards addressing the effects of the pandemic.&#x0D; Results. The paper highlights the positive and negative effects of the pandemic in Africa. Through a theoritical review of journals reviews some pandemics including during biblical and recent times, their impacts on agriculture and how they were addressed. It presents solutions towards addressing the food security situation affected by COVID-19 in Africa. This paper highlights the role of various stakeholders in addressing the effects of COVID-19.&#x0D; Scientific novelty. The paper highlights the role of leaders, farmers and consumers in addressing the effects of COVID-19 in Africa. It provides innovative and sustainable ways of addressing the effects of COVID-19 in Africa.&#x0D; Practical value. This paper entails ideas that governments, farmers, development organizations and stakeholders in Africa agriculture will find useful in designing interventions that will address the effects of COVID-19 leading to a food secure and thriving Africa. A food secure Africa will boost employment in the agricultural sector and the sustainable development of other economic sectors and a thriving continent.

Fall determinants in hospitalised older patients: a nested case control design - incidence, extrinsic and intrinsic risk in Malaysia

BackgroundThe older person is at greater risk of falls due to multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This is compounded when the elderly is admitted to hospitals, as they are acutely ill and placed in an unfamiliar environment. Delirium and polypharmacy further complicate these problems. As falls reflect quality of care with potential for grave outcomes, this study aimed to identify the extent and risk of falls in public hospitals.MethodsWe conducted a nested case control study in 12 public hospitals in Malaysia. In the cohort section, we screened all inpatients 60 years of age and above daily until discharge, or the end of the study period. Daily, we identified those who fell, inclusive of near falls, in the preceding 24 h. Our enumerators interviewed patients on experience of fall, and supplemented data from the nurses and caregivers. For each case, ten controls were chosen.ResultsThe incidence of falls/near falls was 1.0 per 1000 patient days (95% CI: 0.9, 1.1). Intrinsic risk factors found to be significant included patients who were not from a nursing home or not cared for by a domestic helper prior to admission, had prior history of indoor fall either in home or hospital, had four or more clinical diagnoses or exited from the bed on the weak side. Significant extrinsic factors were the absence of transfer bar in toilet, call bells, light switches or walking aids that were not within reach, as well as not having a walking aid. Non-sturdy chair was associated with lesser falls than when sturdy chairs with armrests were present.ConclusionQuerying patients for falls produced better results than incident reporting. Several intrinsic factors such as history of indoor or in-hospital fall, having four or more clinical diagnoses or exiting from weaker side and residence history may help to identify those at higher risk. Addressing significant extrinsic factors such as transfer bars and the identification of switches may help in reducing falls risk in hospitals.Trial registrationThis study was registered in National Medical Research Register of Malaysia (NMRR-07-772-1044; date 26/05/2008) with Ethics Approval from Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC: MRG-07-LOI-HSR-1).

Finding the silver linings in the COVID-19 pandemic: Psychosocial correlates of adversarial growth among Filipina domestic helpers in Hong Kong.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted many people's life. Negative impacts of pandemic measures and economic hardship on psychological well-being are common among the global populations. In Hong Kong, the pandemic not only affects the local populations, but also the migrant Filipina domestic helpers (FDH). Despite the distress, evidence suggests that people still experience positive changes (aka adversarial growth) amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect the same applies to FDH in Hong Kong. Studies have shown that coping resources (e.g., resilience, social support, literacy of trauma-related information), cognitive appraisal, and coping strategies are associated with adversarial growth among individuals living with highly stressful events. Relevant studies for migrant populations in the COVID-19 context are limited. This study examined the psychosocial correlates of adversarial growth among FDH in Hong Kong. By convenient sampling, FDH (N = 266) recruited from public gathering venues were asked to complete a cross-sectional survey. Their COVID-19-related distress, work-related stress, COVID-19 information literacy, emotional and material support, resilience, cognitive appraisals (harm, threat, challenge), and coping strategies (religious coping, positive reframing, acceptance) were measured. Controlled for covariates, hierarchical regression results showed that higher levels of resilience (β = .21), emotional support (β = .16), COVID-19-related information literacy (β = .15), and religious coping (β = .16) were associated with higher adversarial growth (ps < .05). FDH in Hong Kong reported positive changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on our findings, facilitating those FDH's resilience, emotional support, COVID-19 information literacy, and religious coping might be important strategies to enhance their adversarial growth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The California battle for health and safety for domestic workers

This article reflects on the legislative campaign of the California Domestic Worker Coalition, including Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network, to end the exclusion of household workers (nannies, personal attendants and cleaners) from occupational health-and-safety requirements. It discusses the strategies and arguments deployed, and analyses the rationale of the governor, who vetoed the bill in 2020 in the name of the home as a private space impossible to regulate. Foregrounding the voices of domestic workers, it highlights their understanding of caring labour and determination to organise for change, seen in the winning of an amended bill in 2021.

A Legal Perspective on the Socio-economic Status of the Domestic Workers in India

The number of female domestic workers in Indian cities has been significantly expanding. Domestic employees, on the other hand, are mostly ignored in today's economic growth debate. Domestic workers lack the necessary collectivities, groups, and popular spokespersons to express their grievances. This isn't to say that domestic workers are entirely overlooked in public debate. It is occasionally mentioned in academic circles as a developing category of female employment, and their inclusion in intervention programmes is mostly confined to their position as migratory workers. They are, however, generally missing from state policy, whether it be in the form of labour regulations or social policy. Domestic worker exploitation of women and children is a common and well-publicized problem. Domestic helpers, usually migrants from eastern states, have become modern slaves since they have no rights or norms to fall back on. Many women and children are also kidnapped and exploited by placement agencies, who operate openly without any constraints or rules, evading the tax net, requiring the need for regulation and control. Domestic employees are not covered by labour laws, and as a result, they are unable to exercise their rights. Domestic employment is not recognised as genuine work, and the clandestine nature of the workplace leads to exploitative living and working circumstances, as well as forced labour and human trafficking. Domestic workers' rights to just and favourable working conditions are further jeopardised by recruitment-related fees, deceptive recruitment practises, and discriminatory policies, which include extremely long working hours, absence of rest and leave periods, deprivation of food, delayed or non-payment of wages, and physical and sexual abuse. Recruitment-related fees, deceptive recruitment practises, and discriminatory policies further jeopardise domestic workers' right to just and favourable working conditions. Special provisions for women and children may be provided under Article 15 (3) of the Indian Constitution, as well as other considerations. The state government can also establish legislation to provide for the welfare of workers, such as working conditions, employer responsibility, social security, and social insurance, under entries 24 and 23 of list II of schedule VII of the constitution.

COVID-19 in India. Mistress’ mango box and maid’s wages (a nethnographic experiment from self-isolation)

The article is part of a study of the position and role of domestic servants in South Asia and deals with the middle class practice established in modern India of using paid helpers to provide for household sustainability. Due to cheapness of such services and absence of the regulations and contracts between employer and employee, the relationship between masters and servants, despite their mutual dependence, remains largely unsettled. This aspect is recorded by the example of a specific situation in Pune (Maharashtra, India), which developed in the initial period (March-June 2020) of the lockdown announced to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the restrictions imposed, representatives of the middle class inhabiting a particular urban area were forced to care for their own basic necessities without support of their domestic helpers. Such an unforeseen turn caused the non-payment or partial payment of wages to the servants who lost their jobs, which put their existence on the brink of disaster, and at the same time invited their masters to heated discussions regarding practical and ethical foundations of their own well-being on social networks. Modern methods of collecting scientific data, in particular by recourse to digital communications, facilitated access to the chats of cooperative and literary communities and accumulation of the live voices of their participants through the participant observation methodology within the framework of netnography.

Pekerja Rumah Tangga dan Organisasi Masyarakat Sipil: Persoalan Tentang Ruang Kebebasan Sipil di Indonesia

Domestic workers or often known as household assistants or domestic helpers are no stranger to their existence in the lives of Indonesian people, both in rural and urban areas. Domestic worker or abbreviated as PRT is a job where the worker offers services to the employer to do various household chores, such as washing, cooking, cleaning the house, caring for children, and other household chores. The existence of domestic workers as informal workers or domestic workers in the household has not been accompanied by clear and concrete legal rules to recognize and protect domestic workers in their work, so that domestic workers often become subjects that are ignored and underestimated, from a status that is marginal and does not exist, not even rare. Receiving treatment that is detrimental to domestic workers, such as violations of rights, sexual harassment, to torture or violence perpetrated by employers against domestic workers. Against the backdrop of cases of violations of domestic workers' rights, domestic workers have begun to have the courage to strive for their rights to be protected by the state. Efforts to seek decent work for domestic workers have been contained in the Domestic Workers Bill and the existence of ILO Convention No.189. However, until now the Indonesian state government has not ratified the Domestic Workers Bill to become the Domestic Workers Law. Therefore it requires the participation of all elements of the state including the government and civil society. Through Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), it is hoped that they can become a bridge for people's aspirations and voices to push for the ratification of the PPRT Bill. Apart from that, as a democratic country, CSOs are also needed to claim the title of a democratic country for Indonesia so that civic freedoms can be upheld for the sake of achieving people's welfare. Especially for marginalized people like domestic workers.

OBTAINING HIGHER EDUCATION FOR WOMEN: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Accessible tertiary education for women is a comparatively new phenomenon, which appeared only after the second part of the XIX century. Nevertheless, in developed countries, men are gaining fewer degrees and also attending less higher education since mid-1990 (Vincent-Lancrin S., 2008) [3], thus inequality for women is eradicated. However, developing countries still have much to do to overcome this issue. Because girls are seen only as domestic helpers with passive roles, what is worse, society still assumes that the main responsibility of a girl is a continuation of the generation. Particularly, in our country, it is more challenging for a woman to find a job in the private sector rather than for a man. If to consider that almost half of our population are women (50.11 %), it could be reckoned that we are losing half of our potential. This paper will discuss and explain several problems for girls in the path for their wish to obtain higher education and offer some possible solutions to solve this problem.

Якість трудового життя: аналіз, оцінювання, перспективи

The purpose of the article is to study the essence of the quality of working life as a method of managing a company; comparison of the quality of working life in Ukraine and South Korea; coverage of modern approaches to its development. As a result of the study, it is emphasized that the quality of working life, as a method of managing a company, is aimed at designing and creating a comfortable working environment for employees at all levels. The quality of working life is associated not only with satisfied employees, but also with the best business results. The latter are associated with the intellectual capabilities of employees. When the quality of work and life is stable, productivity surely will be increased, too. A comparison of approaches to the quality of working life in Ukraine and South Korea is made, allowing to conclude about the common and the different. It is defined that a very big difference lies in the attitude of personnel to work and etiquette rules between the staff in Ukraine and in South Korea. Korea has the highest rate of aging population among countries that are members of the OECD. At the same time, not only employees need to change, but also employers should develop a holistic well-being strategy for the future. Not taking this into account in the country’s social policy will slow economic growth, exacerbate inequality and weaken welfare, and call into question the sustainability of public finances and social well-being. The standard of quality of working life at Korean enterprises is supported by laws. Domestic employers, as a rule, introduce disparate and unsystematic measures that meet only the current needs of employees. It is determined that the COVID-19 crisis has provoked increased attention to the protection of the most vulnerable workers. It is concluded that the development of social protection of the population has contributed to a more gradual transition from the protection of jobs to the protection of workers, which, together with the enhanced active policy of the labor market, supports employment and productivity growth. Prospects for further research in this direction are to determine the degree of influence of mental and physical health of an individual on the quality of working life.

A human safety approach to safe maintenance

The deterioration of the technical condition of plant equipment is a common phenomenon today. This is increasingly contributing to breakdowns and accidents, according to the experience of national and international authorities. Plants that are operating with an inadequate maintenance strategy are nowadays approaching the end of their design life and thus represent an increased risk of accidents. Ageing processes are often accelerated by operators' underestimation of the effects of stresses and strains on equipment and the extent of degradation mechanisms, and consequently by inadequate design and operation of condition monitoring and maintenance procedures. The aim of our work is to investigate domestic and foreign trends in the light of modern maintenance optimization methods and to make related recommendations for optimizing maintenance scheduling for domestic employers.

Trabalhadoras domésticas: herança pós-colonial e Relações Internacionais

Abstract The discipline of International Relations (IR) in Latin American is still dominated by positivist and Westernized research. This creates challenges for international studies such as how to visualise the subjects or ‘sujetas’ who participate in national and international politics but are ignored in this field, and how to value the current postcolonial research, which offers critical perspectives that equilibrate the epistemic balance and help build adequate tools to understand different regional phenomena. By analysing a case study of the Association of Women Domestic Employees of Paraguay, this article clarifies how a postcolonial approach enriches the field of IR. This study argues that postcolonialism contributes to this field by making visible cognitive subjects and ‘sujetas’, who offer an alternative knowledge construction to rethink international relations with a meta-theoretical extension, visible. Postcolonialism is the theoretical basis of this qualitative research. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations. This article suggests and concludes that women domestic workers as ‘political subjects’ enrich international relations by offering critical views to the research carried out in the subfields of foreign policy analysis, international political economy, and regionalism.

A multi‐country, multi‐commodity Ricardian trade model with link commodities and Keynesian unemployment

AbstractThis study constructs a multi‐country, multi‐commodity Ricardian trade model with link commodities, defined as commodities commonly produced in more than one country, and Keynesian unemployment arising from deficient effective demand. Given production techniques, available labour, and demand in each country, the model determines patterns of international division of labour, commodity prices, wage rates, outputs, and employment in each country. The main results indicate that demand changes effectuate quantity adjustments without price changes, each country must expand domestic demand to increase domestic employment, and each country must raise the labour productivity of link commodities to increase relative domestic wage rates.

Associations of Childcare Arrangements with Adiposity Measures in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Cohort: The GUSTO Study.

Childcare arrangements shape behavioural patterns that influence the risk of childhood obesity. However, little is known of its influence on childhood obesity in Singapore. We aim to examine the associations between childcare arrangements at the age of 5 years and childhood adiposity at age 6 years. Children from the GUSTO study were grouped into three childcare arrangements at age 5: full-time centre-based childcare (FC), partial centre-based with parental care (PCP), and partial centre-based with non-parents (grandparents and domestic helpers) as caregivers (PCN). Diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour information were collected at age 5, while anthropometric measurements were collected at age 6. Associations were analysed using multivariable regression models. Among 540 children, those in PCN had higher BMI z-scores (β: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.66), greater sum of skinfold thicknesses (mm) (β: 3.75; 95% CI: 0.53, 6.97) and were 3.55 times (95% CI: 1.78, 7.05) more likely to be overweight/obese than those in FC. Adiposity measures in PCP children did not differ from those in FC. PCN children were reported to have more screen time and greater fast-food intake. Children in PCN tended to have higher adiposity measures. Greater engagement of non-parental caregivers should be considered in interventions targeting child obesity.

Foreign direct investment and onshore employment dynamics: Evidence from German firms with affiliates in the Czech Republic

AbstractIn this paper, we revisit questions about the onshore employment effects of firms that conduct foreign direct investment (FDI) in countries with substantially lower average wages. Our results derive from the use of rich administrative records on the universe of employees in German multinational enterprises (MNEs) that were active in the Czech Republic in 2010. Compared with former studies, the unique data set in this study includes a much higher fraction of small‐ and medium‐sized firms and leads to strikingly different results for service MNEs. Applying coarsened exact matching for firms and an event‐study design, we show that the domestic employment growth of MNEs decreases relative to that of non‐MNEs and that the affected workers are those with low or medium educational attainment in the manufacturing sector and with medium or high educational attainment in the service sector. Regarding workers’ tasks, our results do not show that FDI affects routine jobs beyond a worker's skill level.