Labor Demand Research Articles

Peasant Resistance in Times of Economic Affluence: Lessons From Paraguay

Contrary to the established belief that low agricultural prices fuel peasant rebellion, our study investigates the surge in peasant unrest during a period of high agricultural prices. The transition to capital-intensive agriculture, characterized by reduced labor demand and heightened entry barriers, prompts landowners to expand into the agricultural frontier during periods of price increases. In these frontier regions, the soils, while comparatively less suitable, become economically viable for commercial agriculture when crop prices are high. This scenario sets the stage for heightened collective resistance, particularly where organizational capacities and subsistence communities provide peasants with symbolic and material resources to resist land encroachment. We provide evidence of this argument by using unique municipal-level data from Paraguay between 2000 and 2014, a period of rising yet fluctuating prices. Our study shows how the interplay between technological advancements in agriculture and global market forces reshape the geography of peasant rebellion.

Environmental regulation and employment: Evidence from China's new Environmental Protection Law

Realizing environmental protection and employment stability when facing strict environmental regulations is an essential issue of concern for many developing countries, including China. Based on a dataset of Chinese listed companies and a dataset of Chinese individual labor-force surveys, this paper uses an estimation technique pairing propensity score matching with a difference-in-differences estimator to examine the impact of the new Environmental Protection Law (EPL) on the supply and demand of labor at the micro level and the reallocation effect of interindustry labor at the macro level. The results show that the new EPL generated employment losses at the micro level. The policy reduces firms’ labor demand by lowering firms’ output and total investment expenditures and, in the process, does not stimulate firms’ innovative behavior. Moreover, implementing the new EPL reduces the wage income of workers, which in turn reduces the labor supply. Conversely, at the macro level, the new EPL promotes the transfer of labor from polluting to cleaner industries, realizes the reallocation of labor between industries, and thus promotes the transformation and upgrading of regional industrial structure.

Impact of inter-country corruption differences on wages and economic growth

Theoretically and numerically, this paper attempts to examine the macroeconomic effects of corruption by using the two-country directed technical change model. At a single-country level, an increase in corruption levels in one country leads to an intra-country decrease in the demand for labor and wages and a permanent slowdown of technological-knowledge progress and economic growth. At the inter-country level, a country-specific increase in corruption enlarges inter-country wage and technological-knowledge gaps. Overall, higher corruption levels in one country are detrimental to global economic growth. Through calibration, it is shown that when the differences between the corruption of non-corrupt and corrupt countries increase: (1) economic growth is mainly stimulated in the corrupt countries India, Mexico, and Brazil; (2) the lowest wage inequality compared to non-corrupt countries is observed in the corrupt countries Greece, Portugal, and Spain.

Changing Trends of Migration in Nepal

This paper aims at analyzing the changing trends of migration that have turned the world into a global village. The study focuses on how migration has affected all aspects of life including social, economic and demographic; and how it is affected by different factors like spatial variation in labour supply and demand, determined by economic concepts guided by wage differences, geographical opportunities and constraints. In the past, migration was limited to Tibet for trade and India for labour and trade. Later, as Lahure and British Gorkhali, they moved to Pakistan and India to serve as army. The major findings of this study shows that the top destination for the migrants who aspire for better survival are Malaysia, GCC countries remained the destination for economic reasons with moderate education level and the developed countries became the destination for high economic class step there for accomplishing their further study. The ratio of Male and female migrants has not only vast differences but also their prioritized destination also differs due to the kind of work they chose. Nepalese labour migration was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to restriction despite having labour approvals. Later many new destinations have been opened with options of work type. This article is mainly based on secondary data collected from different articles published in journals related to migration, regular reports published by CBS, NLMR, IOM and others.

An Identification of Trends in the Functioning of Organisations in the Context of Their Impact on the Level of Employment in Ukraine

Unique knowledge, reinforced by organisational experience and combined with resources and technologies, forms the competence of organisations, thereby determining the possibility of market success. The need to ensure it in the context of influencing the employment level of a population shifts attention from external factors to the internal properties of organisations as a prerequisite for achieving high performance levels. The status of organisations of different business groups in terms of their impact on employment in Ukraine is defined in the following pages of this article. The inexpediency of considering the indicators of the number of organisations in Ukraine and the intensity of their creation as a factor of employment growth was substantiated, since, despite the absolute quantitative advantage of small organisations (95.2%), it is medium-sized organisations that occupy the leading positions in providing employment in Ukraine (47%). It is noted that the higher level of profitability of large and medium-sized organisations, as an indicator of financial success, can be associated with a wider list of available competencies, in particular, those that are part of the synergistic component of an organisation’s competence and which provide advantages that are almost unreproducible by competitors, and thus, market leadership positions. The complexity of the development of such competencies among small businesses, which should focus on the competencies of a key component, is substantiated. Using the component will open access to new knowledge, experience, methods of managing resources, and business processes. The logical conclusion manifest itself in the importance of developing competent organisations capable of: achieving high financial results; creating jobs with a competitive level of pay; and contributing to the balance of the labour market. The identified disparities in labour supply and demand indicators exacerbate the problem of their balance along with ensuring productive employment, which is often caused by the professional and qualification mismatch of employees with employers’ current requirements and their incompetence in certain areas of activity. This is the reason for directing research to find ways to develop competent organisations capable of attracting employees with a wide range of knowledge, a willingness to learn, and who are able to adapt to changes in exchange for decent remuneration. A distinctive feature of this study is the consideration of the trends of the functioning of organisations not only from the standpoint of influence on the level of employment in Ukraine, but also as evidence of the manifestation of a certain level of competence, which will become the basis for the development of its components in order to ensure the effective operation of organisations on the market.

Impact of renewable energy expansion policies on the economy, income distribution, and air pollution reduction

This study employs a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model to evaluate the consequences of renewable energy (RE) expansion policies in South Korea, focusing on their impact on the economy, income distribution, and air pollution reduction. It assumes a scenario in which RE generation constitutes 20% of the total electricity generation by 2030. Various scenarios are explored, including those with and without emission regulations and those considering increased productivity of RE technology. Key findings suggest that expanding RE policies stimulates labor demand and revitalizes upstream industries. However, its effectiveness depends on increasing the efficiency of RE technologies. Carbon regulation, such as emissions trading schemes, reduces greenhouse gases and air pollutants, with environmental benefits outweighing GDP reductions. It decreases income inequality, whereas policies to promote RE exacerbate it, requiring corrective measures. Nevertheless, productivity improvements in the RE sector enhance income distribution.

Trade-offs? The Impact of WTO Accession on Intimate Partner Violence in Cambodia

Abstract We study the impact of trade-induced changes in labor market conditions on violence within the household. We exploit the local labor demand shocks generated by Cambodia’s WTO accession to assess how changes in the employment of women relative to men affected the risk of intimate partner violence. We document that men in districts facing larger tariff reductions experienced a significant decline in paid employment, whereas women in harder-hit districts increased their entry into the labor force. These changes in employment patterns triggered backlash effects by increasing intimate partner violence, without changes in marriage, fertility, psychological distress, or household consumption.

Социальные риски достижения устойчивого развития Арктического региона

The sustainable development of circumpolar countries is of great importance for the whole world, because the Arctic Region is currently experiencing an unprecedented level of economic activity. From the perspective of the concept of sustainable development, the intensification of industrial activity in the Arctic region makes the issues of achieving long-term environmental and social sustainability for local communities relevant. Despite the fact that the Arctic countries, especially the countries of Northern Eu-rope, are leaders in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, additional attention is needed to coordinate efforts to achieve them at all levels of administrative-territorial management. The relevance of our study is determined by the need to overcome the challenges and threats to the sustainable development of the Arctic territories of circumpolar countries. The aim of the study was to analyze the social risks of achieving sustainable development of the Arctic region. The methodological basis of the study was the system approach, methods of structural-historical and comparative-geographical analysis. It was substantiated that social risks in achieving sustainable development in the Arctic region are limited access to educational services; social tension in the labor markets, produced by professional and qualification imbalances of labor demand and supply and problems of youth employment; child poverty and poverty of the indigenous population. The scientific novelty of the research is in substantiating the social risks that pose a threat to the sustainable development of the Arctic region. The prospects for further research are conditioned by the need to solve urgent socio-economic and managerial problems associated with the sustainable development of the Arctic region.

Immigration and Business Dynamics: Evidence from U.S. Firms

Abstract This paper studies the impact of immigration on U.S. local business dynamics using a comprehensive collection of survey and administrative data. It finds heterogeneous impacts across the employer productivity distribution that favor higher-productivity firms and lead to increases in average local earnings. Responses to immigration along the exit margin are particularly important. Immigrant inflows cull establishments from low-productivity firms while preserving establishments from high-productivity firms. Overall, reduced exit accounts for 43% of immigrant-induced job creation and 41% of immigrant-induced earnings growth. A general equilibrium model proposes a mechanism that ties immigrant workers to high-productivity employers and shows how accounting for changes to the employer productivity distribution can yield substantially larger estimates of immigrant-generated economic surplus than canonical models of labor demand.

Criteria for scaling up oil palm agroforestry in northeastern Pará, Brazil

The Brazilian municipality of Tomé-Açu has over two-hundred agroforestry systems, which integrate oil palm into a larger, diversified production system, promoting farmers’ livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecological resilience; avoiding the many social and environmental conflicts associated with oil palm monocultures. There are four main challenges to scaling up oil palm agroforestry in the Amazon. These include environmental and land tenure regularisation, implementing effective financing, meeting labour demands, and securing market connections. In response, the Expansion Pilot project has been collaboratively developed between Natura, CAMTA, and other organisations, to develop low-risk business models for farmers. The project established guiding principles for oil palm agroforestry, which focus on plant diversity, functionality, and economic diversity as the three key performance indicators; checking reliability, eligibility, scalability, replicability, and impact. The guiding principles provide criteria and scoring systems for assessing the performance of agroforestry systems, ensuring continuous improvement over time. The financial implementation of agroforestry systems is also a key aspect, as financial institutions now offer investment lines specifically for oil palm agroforestry. Carbon sequestration and insurance specific to agroforestry are also being explored as potential financing mechanisms. Further improvements to oil palm agroforestry practices will require collaboration with government agencies, the development of mechanisation alternatives, and ongoing research and innovation; all of which will help mitigate the negative impacts of oil palm monoculture.

The transition to electrified vehicles: Evaluating the labor demand of manufacturing conventional versus battery electric vehicle powertrains

The shift from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to electric vehicles (EVs) has raised concerns about displacement of automotive manufacturing labor. Prior studies have mixed findings, and have been hindered by a lack of shop floor-level data on the labor hours required for ICEV and EV manufacturing. We collect detailed data from leading automotive manufacturers on the production process steps and labor inputs required to build key ICEV and battery electric vehicle (BEV) powertrain components. Our novel data set covers 252 process steps, with data on a further 78 process steps from the existing literature. We build a production process model that estimates the labor hours required to produce ICEV and BEV powertrain components at different production volumes and labor efficiency levels. We find that, accounting for production and assembly of battery packs, the labor intensity required for the manufacturing of BEV powertrain components is larger than for ICEV powertrain components. This difference in labor intensity holds even when comparing the highest-efficiency estimates for BEV production with the lowest efficiency-estimates for ICEVs. This finding depends on our shop-floor operations modeling approach and could not be derived from recent approaches focusing on part counts. Our results imply that vehicle electrification could lead to more automotive manufacturing jobs, at least in the short- to medium-term. While there are potential jobs to support transitions for incumbent automotive workers, the feasibility of these transitions will depend on geographic co-location of new battery production capacity with current ICEV production sites, and on matching between the skills of the automotive workforce and the demands of new EV jobs.

New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940–2018

Abstract We answer three core questions about the hypothesized role of newly emerging job categories (“new work”) in counterbalancing the erosive effect of task-displacing automation on labor demand: what is the substantive content of new work, where does it come from, and what effect does it have on labor demand? We construct a novel database spanning eight decades of new job titles linked to U.S. Census microdata and to patent-based measures of occupations’ exposure to labor-augmenting and labor-automating innovations. The majority of current employment is in new job specialties introduced since 1940, but the locus of new-work creation has shifted from middle-paid production and clerical occupations over 1940–1980 to high-paid professional occupations and secondarily to low-paid services since 1980. New work emerges in response to technological innovations that complement the outputs of occupations and demand shocks that raise occupational demand. Innovations that automate tasks or reduce occupational demand slow new-work emergence. Although the flow of augmentation and automation innovations is positively correlated across occupations, the former boosts occupational labor demand while the latter depresses it. The demand-eroding effects of automation innovations have intensified in the past four decades while the demand-increasing effects of augmentation innovations have not.

A PILOT STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION’S STUDENTS TOWARDS WORK ABILITY AND SUITABILITY JOB PROFILE

TVET has substantially contributed to the enhancement of students' abilities in the field of special education. In order to ensure the viability of employment proposals for students who will be dealing with learning disabilities students, it is necessary to consider both their capacity to work and the suitability of their skills with the job profile in TVET context. Hence, a pilot study was done to determine the perspectives of students enrolled in special education programmes regarding the suitability of job profiles for individuals with learning disabilities. 31 students enrolled in special education programmes at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) were participated in this study. The questionnaire was disseminated via the online distribution method, while the research instrument in this study was derived from prior research. The questionnaire consists of three distinct sections: (i) demographic information, (ii) work ability, and (iii) job profile compatibility. The data was analyzed descriptively and presented in frequency table. The results of this study indicate that the mean value (M=3.71) of work ability is significantly higher. In addition, the result of suitability with the job profile is notably high with the mean value of (M=4.33). This finding illustrates the significance of the individual's ability to perform tasks and the suitability of the job profile in guiding instructional strategies for students with learning disability. This study's findings have the potential to provide practical insights that can enhance Malaysia's special education system. This would ensure that the industry's demand for qualified labour matches the outcomes produced by educational institutions, particularly in the field of special education.

Trends in Admittance and Equity in Higher Education: Are Male Students in Uganda Disadvantaged?

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of trends in admittance and equity in higher education. Using Qualitative approach in data collection, this study answered the following questions: Are Male students currently disadvantaged in admittance to higher education in favour of female students? What is the impact this imbalance in relation to job market demands for skilled labour from both sexes? What long-term initiatives might significantly increase the number of male students admitted to higher education institutions for gender equity? The findings were that the available data on trends in admitting students in higher institutions show an almost equal number of the ratio of females to male with some exceptional institutions where female ratios have exceeded male ratios. It is recommended that the government should review affirmative action policies so that the recruitment does not favor one gender as it were before the programs.

Causes and Effect of Out-Migration in Rural Areas of Benue State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effect of out-migration from rural settlements in Benue State, Nigeria. The objective of the study was to examine the causes, effect and control of migration in rural settlements of the study area. A total of 1202 respondents were selected from rural communities in 5 Local Government Area of the State. The study used multi-stage sampling technique involving purposive, simple random, judgement and snowball sampling techniques in selecting the communities and the respondents. Data were obtained via questionnaire. Frequencies and percentages were used for data analysis while tables were used for data presentation. The study found that 60.1% of the respondents are male. Most of the respondents (23.7%) are within age 50-54 years. Majority of the respondents are married (79.8%) and have households that have migrated to other places in Nigeria and beyond. The major causes of migration include unemployment (99.8%), inadequate educational institutions (97.2%), village hardship and crises (69.2%), lack of social amenities (6.7%) and insecurity/crises in rural areas. The major effect of out-migration includes reduction in labour supply, increased in demand for labour (97.1%), high cost of labour (99.8%), decreased in farm size (99.5%), decreased in productivity (99.7) and decreased in income (99.7%) in rural areas. Migration also causes low social economic growth and development in rural areas. The study recommends some major strategies for making the rural areas attractive to minimise youth migration in the State. These includes mechanization of agriculture, establishing agro-based industries, creating employment opportunities, provision of social amenities and ensuring adequate security of life and properties in rural areas of the State.

Comparison of the Association Between Presenteeism and Absenteeism among Replacement Workers and Paid Workers: Cross-sectional Studies and Machine Learning Techniques

BackgroundReplacement drivers represent a significant portion of platform labor in the Republic of Korea, often facing night shifts and the demands of emotional labor. Research on replacement drivers is limited due to their widespread nature. This study examined the levels of presenteeism and absenteeism among replacement drivers in comparison to those of paid male workers in the Republic of Korea. MethodsThis study collected data for replacement drivers and used data from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey for paid male workers over the age of 20 years. Propensity score matching was performed to balance the differences between paid workers and replacement drivers. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for presenteeism and absenteeism by replacement drivers. Stratified analysis was conducted for age groups, educational levels, income levels, and working hours. The analysis was adjusted for variables including age, education, income, working hours, working days per week, and working duration. ResultsAmong the 1,417 participants, the prevalence of presenteeism and absenteeism among replacement drivers was 53.6% (n = 210) and 51.3% (n = 201), respectively. The association of presenteeism and absenteeism (adjusted OR [95% CI] = 8.42 [6.36−11.16] and 20.80 [95% CI = 14.60−29.62], respectively) with replacement drivers being significant, with a prominent association among the young age group, high educational, and medium income levels. ConclusionThe results demonstrated that replacement drivers were more significantly associated with presenteeism and absenteeism than paid workers. Further studies are necessary to establish a strategy to decrease the risk factors among replacement drivers.

Is interest rate hiking a recipe for missing several goals of monetary policy—beating inflation, preserving financial stability, and keeping up output growth?

After the corona crisis, and even more so when the war in Ukraine struck, the price levels of all goods in the US and Europe rose surprisingly quickly and persistently. The FED began in March 2022 and the ECB in July 2022 with historically unique interest rate increases to combat the wage-price spiral that had not yet begun. In this article we show that energy, commodities and food were the main drivers of inflation. For this reason, central banks' goal of weakening demand for labor through historically large interest rate hikes seems unwise. We argue that the current measures cannot achieve all of their objectives: slowing inflation, stabilizing financial markets and sustaining growth. If interest rates remain high, but external forces emerge with a lasting effect and keep inflation rates high, especially in smaller emerging countries, it will be difficult to counteract this on a country or regional basis through high interest rate policy and national control of the price- and wage-Phillips curve. Significant negative side effects of interest rate hikes increase the risk of not making the necessary investments and, in particular, weaken the bargaining power of particularly vulnerable employment groups. Other tools are needed to curb inflation and keep it under control, for example more investment in sectors with supply disruptions and a massive expansion of investment in renewable energy.

The impact of digital development on non-agricultural employment of rural women: evidence from the broadband China strategy

ABSTRACT In developing countries, the employment of rural women is a crucial component of livelihood issues, with implications for sustainable social development, poverty alleviation, and the realization of gender equality. This study employs a quasi-natural experiment approach based on the Broadband China strategic pilot project. Through constructing a multi-temporal differences-in-differences empirical model, it analyzes the impact of digital development on non-agricultural employment of rural women in China, along with the underlying mechanisms. Empirical results indicate a significant positive effect of digital development on non-agricultural employment for rural women. This impact is more pronounced among younger, highly educated, married, parous, and those residing in main grain-producing regions. Mechanism analysis reveals that, on the labour supply side, digital development enhances the probability of rural women participating in non-agricultural employment by improving their labour force quality. On the labour demand side, digital development fosters the development of emerging industries and improves the employment environment, thereby providing more opportunities for rural women to engage in non-agricultural employment. Based on these findings, this study offers policy implications for advancing digital infrastructure construction and digital economic development in rural China, addressing women’s employment challenges, and narrowing gender employment gaps.

The unequal effects of trade and automation across local labor markets

We quantify the joint impact of the China shock and automation of labor, across US commuting zones (CZs) in the period 2000–2007. To this end, we employ a multi-sector gravity model of trade with Roy-Fréchet worker heterogeneity across sectors, where labor input can be automated. Automation and increased import competition from China are both sector-specific; they lead to contractions in a sector’s labor demand and a decline in relative income for CZs more specialized in that sector, amplified by a voluntary reduction in hours worked and an increase in frictional unemployment. The estimated model fits well with the aggregate performance of manufacturing subsectors and with the variation across CZs in changes in average income, the hourly wage, hours worked, the employment rate and employment in manufacturing. By itself, the China shock has stronger distributional effects than automation, but its impact on aggregate gains is less than a third of automation’s impact.

Beyond occupational exhaustion: exploring the influence of positive meaningful work on teachers’ psychoemotional well-being in the digital age

The teaching profession, intrinsically vocational, bestows upon its practitioners a deep sense of meaning and personal dedication. However, this personal commitment can be affected by the constant evolution of labour demands, exacerbated by the increasing technification of education. Both these needs, at a personal and organisational level, can lead to the development of emotional exhaustion, a psychological state manifesting with increased frequency in the educational sector. In this context, and referencing the job demands-resources model, we propose a model focused on the examination of the role according to the positive meaning in modulating emotional exhaustion. The research was conducted with a sample of 213 secondary school teachers in southern Spain, using a survey methodology. All data were analysed throughout the SPSS and Smart PLS statistical programs. The obtained results indicate that the presence of positive meaningful work has a negative impact on emotional exhaustion, technocomplexity and work-family conflict. Furthermore, the negative effect of positive meaning work on work-family conflict was stronger for teachers with greater experience. This study enhances the understanding of teacher well-being, suggesting the update of theoretical models to reflect current labour complexities, promoting managerial strategies and flexible policies to mitigate emotional exhaustion and foster a healthy working environment.