Labour Market Position Research Articles

Exploring mental health disability gaps in the labour market: the UK experience during COVID-19

People with long-term mental health problems that affect their daily activities are a growing proportion of the UK working population and they have a particularly low employment rate. We analyse gaps in labour market outcomes between mental health disabled and non-disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. We also decompose the outcome gaps in order to explore the relative importance of different factors in explaining these gaps. Our results suggest that the employment effects of the pandemic for mental health disabled people may have been temporary. However, they were more likely to be away from work and/or working reduced hours than people without a disability. Workers with mental health disability were over-represented in part-time work and in caring, leisure and other service occupations, which were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and the economic response. This is important new evidence on the contribution of segmentation and segregation in explaining the labour market position of people with mental health disability. The longer term effects of the pandemic were still not apparent at the end of our analysis period (2021:Q3), but the concentration of disabled workers in cyclically sensitive sectors and part-time work means that they will always be particularly vulnerable to economic downturns.

Does it pay off to specialize? The interplay between educational specificity, level and cyclical sensitivity

This paper investigates how the specificity of the field of study is related to the quality of school-to-work transitions, and whether this relation is moderated by the level of education and the cyclical sensitivity of the field of study. We apply a processual approach and produce a typology of school-to-work transitions based on labor market position and income. This is done with multichannel sequence analysis on register data on school-leavers in the Netherland for the 2009–2010 cohort (N = 182,057). The results confirm that specificity is positively related to the quality of school-to-work transitions in terms of employment and income security. This however mostly holds for the highest levels of upper-secondary vocational education (ISCED 354), and much less for the lower levels of upper-secondary vocational education and tertiary education. In contrast to our expectations, specificity was more often related to positive career outcomes for cyclically sensitive fields of study.

From bad to worse: examining the deteriorating labour market outcomes of international graduates in Australia

International graduates have been shown to experience comparatively poor outcomes in their transition to the host labour market after course completion. In Australia, international graduates typically fare worse than domestic graduates in the labour market, with new evidence pointing to a deterioration in their relative labour market position over the years. The contributing factors for the deterioration, however, remain unclear. In this article, we analysed unique large-scale survey data from the Australian Graduate Survey to identify the factors underlying the deteriorating labour market outcomes of international graduates from 2000. Our findings indicate that the deteriorating labour market outcomes of international graduates can be largely linked to the declining share of these graduates who are a citizen or permanent resident of Australia. The rising percentage of international graduates who are non-native English-speakers also played a role, albeit a modest one. These findings call attention to the persistent labour market disadvantage of international graduates and highlight the inadequacies of existing policies aimed at temporary retention and stronger English language skills in promoting labour market integration.

Zvýšené nároky péče o děti v době pandemie covidu-19: péče jako břemeno, nebo příležitost?

The article focuses on how parents of school and younger children experienced school closures associated with the Covid-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. Using an intersectional approach in qualitative research, we examine how parents coped with the increased demands of childcare and how their perception of childcare changed during the pandemic. More generally, we ask whether the pandemic situation was an opportunity for greater recognition and valuation of care. We present an analysis of serial qualitative interviews with 32 solo mothers and 19 parents living in couples that were conducted between the spring of 2020 and the summer of 2021. Parents had a both positive and negative experience of care during the Covid-19 pandemic. The first school closure in the spring of 2020 was perceived as a rather positive opportunity to step outside the course of everyday life. However, as the pandemic continued, the long-term negative effects that the increased care duties during lockdown had on people and especially mothers became apparent: a worsening labour market position, a deteriorating economic situation, and an increasing dependence of women on male breadwinners or on the social support system. The pandemic highlighted the paradox of reproductive work in late capitalism and showed how childcare has no market value in itself. Although in the first period of the pandemic parents experienced care to some extent as an opportunity, a source of meaning, and a rediscovered value, overall the pandemic did not lead to a greater recognition or valuation of care in society.

Germany and the United States in coronavirus distress: internal versus external labour market flexibility

Germany and the United States pursued different economic strategies to minimise the impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the labour market. Germany focused on safeguarding existing jobs through the use of internal flexibility measures, especially short-time work (STW). The United States relied on a mix of external flexibility and income protection. On this basis, we use macroeconomic time series to examine the German strategy of securing employment through internal flexibility by contrasting it with the chosen strategy in the United States. In Germany, temporary cyclical reductions in working hours are mainly driven via STW. US unemployment rose at an unprecedented rate, but unlike in previous recessions, it was mostly driven by temporary layoffs. However, a closer look at the blind spots of the chosen strategies in both countries showed that despite the different approaches, people in weaker labour market positions were less well protected by the chosen strategies.

Work–family policies and women’s job mobility: emerging divides in female workforce in Japan

ABSTRACT The impact of work–family policies on women’s employment must be considered in the institutional context wherein policies are introduced. This study examines the impact of introducing work–family policies on job exit and change experienced by 25–45-year-old women since the 1990s in the Japanese context. The past three decades are characterised by a deepened labour market duality, continued basic social welfare framework in which labour market position is pivotal for entitlement, and intensified normative familialism. Analyses of panel data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers show that with the development of work–family policies, women become less likely to leave their jobs. This phenomenon is, however, limited to women in regular employment. Mothers with pre-school-age children have not increased their labour market attachment. No change is noted in the tendency of women in regular employment being less likely to change their jobs. Results suggest that work–family policies have not only promoted women’s employment but also brought divides in the female labour force. Additionally, the results indicate the importance of focusing on institutional arrangements to understand how such divides are brought about.

Hybrid Work Patterns: A Latent Class Analysis of Platform Workers in Denmark

This paper presents a novel approach for studying differences and similarities among platform workers, by taking into account the wider labor market position of platform workers. Analytically, we seek inspiration from literature on labor market segmentation (SLM) and multiple jobholding (MJH) to nuance the often-dichotomized view of labor markets characterized by SLM theory. By using survey data from a set of additional questions tied to the Danish LFS, we apply latent class analysis models to discover patterns of labor market divisions among platform workers in Denmark. We identify three major groups of platform workers, and while all of them have multiple income sources, they have very different labor market positions in the traditional labor market. We categorize them as ‘established workers’, ‘transitional workers’, and ‘new labor market entrants’. These divisions point to marked differences among platform workers, implying that platform work is characterized by varying blends of labor market hybridity.

Your heart is where your roots are? Place attachment and belonging among Polish and Lithuanian returnees

The reintegration of return migrants has been an important issue in migration studies for several decades. While much research has been done to identify returnees’ strategies and their labour market situation in their country of origin, little attention has been devoted to their attachment, especially in quantitative studies. This paper seeks to address this gap, analysing predictors of place attachment and belonging among Polish and Lithuanian returnees from the United Kingdom. We consider autobiographical factors connected to migration history and time spent in a place; relational factors linked to social networks, bonds and contacts; cultural factors connected to feeling “at home”; and economic and welfare factors primarily linked to economic stability and job opportunities. Our analysis is based on a web survey of Polish and Lithuanian returnees conducted in 2020 (n = 740). The results reveal that the influence of autobiographical, cultural and relational determinants on returnees’ attachment is greater than the influence of their labour market position.

Housing trajectories of EU migrants: between quick emigration and shared housing as temporary and long-term solutions

Over the past two decades, many European countries have witnessed new immigration patterns related to the gradual expansion of the European Union (EU). While migration motives and labour market positions of EU migrants are well-understood, relatively little is known about their housing positions in the hosting countries. Using sequence analyses and logistic regression on longitudinal register data from Statistics Netherlands, this article examines housing trajectories of EU migrants from seven countries in the Netherlands, over an eight-year period (2012–2019). Our results show that, while housing trajectories vary substantially in terms of length of stay in the Netherlands and access to social housing, private renting and homeownership, sharing is at the centre for all migrant groups, both as a temporary and long-term solution. Moreover, we show that varying housing trajectories can partially be explained through contrasting demographic and socio-economic profiles. Yet, even after controlling for such factors as income, age, and household composition, some differences between country of origin persist.

Vocational education: a poor second choice? A comparison of the labour market outcomes of academic and vocational graduates in China

ABSTRACT In the Reform Era, the Chinese Government has placed great emphasis on the role of education in ensuring the economic success of individuals and of the country as a whole. While vocational and academic post-secondary qualifications are officially set at the same level, vocational education is positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy and suffers considerable societal prejudice. Drawing on the most recent nationwide-representative data, we investigate the labour market positioning of graduates from the two types of education in terms of their income, occupation, and level of employment precariousness. The results suggest that: (1) vocational graduates earn less than academic graduates; (2) the type of post-secondary education is significantly correlated with the likelihood of obtaining white-collar high-skilled positions; and (3) vocational graduates face greater precariousness in their jobs than academic graduates do. This study also reveals that the hierarchically stratified post-secondary system may be a source of economic inequality in the Chinese Reform Era. Moreover, it demonstrates that the visible hand of the state seems to further facilitate the reproduction of current forms of inequality that leave an increasing number of graduates in marginalised labour market positions.

Understanding the immigrant-native gap in childcare use: An empirical exploration for 21 European countries

In this contribution, we examine whether and why there is a gap in the use of formal childcare services between immigrant and native families across 21 European countries. We focus on three sets of potential determinants: (1) social class, education and labour market position; (2) immigrant-specific factors such as norms in the region of origin, citizenship acquisition and length of stay in the country of residence; and (3) contextual factors such structural constraints impeding access to childcare and traditional norms on motherhood in the region of origin. Drawing on data from the 2010 ad hoc module of the EU Labour Force Survey, we find evidence for an immigrant-native gap in formal childcare use. Adjusted for social class position, education and maternal employment, immigrant families are less likely to use childcare compared to native families across European countries. However, there are important cross-country differences in the size of this gap. The study also provides evidence for immigrant-specific explanations: acquiring citizenship and staying longer in the country of residence increases the probability to use childcare, while the strength of traditional norms in the region of origin reduces the probability to use childcare. Finally, we find that structural barriers to childcare use negatively affect childcare use for both native and immigrant families. Removing barriers to childcare use in terms of availability and affordability will benefit everyone.

Tasks, occupations and slowbalisation: on the limits of fragmentation

AbstractFollowing the trade collapse in 2009, Globalisation has recovered but the growth rate slowed down compared to the preceding period of Hyper Globalisation. The persistence of this slowdown is remarkable. We argue that increased awareness of firms for the costs of involvement in global supply chains can explain the recent developments in trade flows. We formalise the existence, length and consequences of changes in fragmentation cost along global supply chains. From a theoretical point of view, we allow tasks to be a combination of different occupations while the model endogenises production fragmentation, allowing for multiple production stages in multiple countries, while remaining tractable. From an empirical point of view, the model explains both the period of Hyper Globalisation and the subsequent Slowbalisation in terms of changing fragmentation costs along global supply chains. The model is also consistent with developments regarding labour market polarisation associated with modern globalisation: the labour market position of medium-skilled workers in advanced countries has deteriorated relative to high- and low-skilled workers, which can be understood by changing global supply chains. Our model implies, however, that even with zero fragmentation costs the demand for certain occupations does not fall to zero for any country.

Movin’ On Up? The Role of Growing Up Rural in Shaping Why Working-Class Men Do—and Don’t—Seek to Improve Their Labor-Market Prospects

Based on interviews with sixty-one working-class men in rural Pennsylvania, this article explores the ways in which rural, working-class men do—and do not—seek to improve their labor-market positions by getting additional education or training, moving, or taking gender-atypical jobs. The evidence presented shows that men are making many efforts to improve their labor-market position, but there are misunderstandings about why they adopt the strategies they do. In particular, deep identification with rural place provides meaning and attachment but also constrains how they seek to improve their labor-market prospects.

30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research

The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general.

Driving High and Low: Heavy Vehicle Drivers and Their Supervisors Facing Digitalization

Our qualitative study in two Finnish companies examines the view presented as part of the ‘employment crisis’ debate that digitalization is leading to a significant substitution of the work of drivers of heavy road vehicles. The main effects of digitalization thus far on the drivers’ work have been automation of individual vehicle functions, speeding up the communication among them and between them and their supervisors, and more intensive control of work performance. The study does not find support for the claim about labor substitution in the foreseeable future, but, instead, indications of a widening digital divide between drivers and supervisors, leaving drivers as bystanders in learning processes associated with digitalization. Although the results cannot be generalized without reservation to different types of companies or business and labor market environments, the findings of the trends in the drivers’ work and labor market position probably have broader relevance.

Evaluating the Unequal Economy: Poverty Risk, Economic Indicators, and the Perception Gap

How do citizens form evaluations of the economy? Defining features of advanced capitalism like income inequality and labor market dualization present a challenge for assessing the health of the economy based on a small set of macroeconomic indicators. This is particularly true for those whose proximity to poverty and precarious labor market position is not always reflected in the official unemployment rate. For those individuals, socio-economic segregation and the geographic concentration of poverty mean that information on poverty is more accessible and more salient than information on macroeconomic indicators which needs to be explicitly sought out. Poverty risk thus shapes how individuals evaluate the economy: at-risk individuals are less likely to rely on conventional indicators of growth and unemployment and more likely to allocate attention to the poverty rate. Analyses of public opinion data from 27 countries provide support for this argument. We further show that those at risk of poverty know less about economic performance by standard economic indicators but offer more accurate estimates of national poverty rates. These novel findings underline the need to depart from familiar indicators and address how unequal economies structure preferences and policy responses .

Does what the man studies affect what he does at home? Field of education and gender division of housework and childcare in Norway, Austria and Poland

ABSTRACT Using data from the Generations and Gender Survey, this study explores the association between men’s fields of education and the gender division of unpaid work among co-residential heterosexual couples in Norway, Austria and Poland. Fathers’ relative contribution to childcare is higher than it is to domestic work in all three countries, suggesting that men have increasingly become more involved fathers than egalitarian partners. Moreover, the scant contribution to housework is lower for men when they are fathers in Austria and in Poland, not in Norway. Also the impact of the field of education is context-embedded. Although the results are not clear-cut and diverge among countries, men choosing ‘softer’, more nurture-oriented and more female-dominated fields tend to exhibit a more symmetrical division of housework and childcare. These associations persist after controlling for his and her labour-market position, suggesting that field of education captures something more than time availability, cost opportunity and monetary returns. Yet Polish men are those most differentiated by level and field of education. In Poland, gender segregation in education is high, and support for the dual earner-dual carer model is still very low both institutionally and culturally, so that men studying in typically female fields are highly selected.

Wage Differences between Atypical and Standard Workers in European Countries: Moving beyond Average Effects

AbstractThis article provides a detailed picture of wage differences between atypical and standard workers across the wage distribution. It compares two distinct types of atypical employment, part-time and temporary employment, and examines seven European countries. Using 2016 EU-SILC data, the article presents quantile regression estimates of wage gaps associated with atypical employment across the wage distribution. The results show that wage patterns associated with different types of atypical employment are diverse and complex. Temporary employment is associated with significant wage penalties that decrease but largely remain significant towards the upper end of the wage distribution. In contrast, wage differences between part-time and full-time workers are smaller and range from part-time penalties at lower deciles of the wage distribution to non-significant differences or premiums at the top. These results suggest that different mechanisms may drive wage differences associated with different types of atypical employment. In particular, the article highlights the role of occupation in affecting atypical workers’ labour market position and, consequently, wages relative to standard workers. Overall, the significant heterogeneity in atypical employment and its wage consequences calls into question the usefulness of the concept as a unifying category for research.

Barriers to the effective exploitation of migrants' social and cultural capital in hospitality and tourism: A dual labour market perspective

This article examines migrants' labour market entry experiences and positions in hospitality and tourism from a dual labour market theory standpoint. We conducted thirty interviews with migrants from Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The transcripts were first analysed through an open coding framework. That was followed by emotion and sentiment analyses for the interviewees' transcripts using Natural Language Processing approach (NLP) with a programming code written in Python. This article found that migrants' high representation in tourism and hospitality is linked to the immense cultural capital they harbour. However, migrants are often at the sector's lower end and fail to build on their social and cultural capital. The research contributes to the understanding that migrants' positions within tourism and hospitality are misaligned with migrants' credentials. Ethnicity impacts job search success and attainment of higher ranks significantly. The underemployment of migrants in hospitality and tourism leads to human capital loss for both migrants and host economies.

Employees’ Relational Work on Social Media

Given how social media are commonly used in contemporary Nordic countries, social media platforms are emerging as crucial for relational work between employers, employees, and potential employees. By means of a discursive psychology approach, this study investigates employers’ constructs of relational work on social media through the use of two interpretative repertoires: the repertoire of loss of control and the repertoire of ever-presence. The consequences of these interpretative repertoires are a masking of power relations, especially between employers and young employees in precarious labor market positions and those with limited digital knowledge or financial means. Further, the positioning of social media as part of a private sphere of life means the invasion of not only employees’, but also managers’ private time and persona. The result of this study hence calls for the need to understand relational work on social media as part of normative managerial work.