Labour Market Exclusion Research Articles

Social Cohesion, Social Integration and Labour Market Exclusion

Social Cohesion, Social Integration and Labour Market Exclusion

Does chronic illness cause adverse social and economic consequences among Swedes?

In an international comparison, the Swedish welfare system has been known for universal coverage and high benefit levels. Perhaps this is the reason why very few studies recently have dealt with the social and economic consequences of long-term illness in Sweden. The research question raised here is therefore to examine chronic illness (defined as limiting longstanding illness. LLSI) as a causal factor contributing adverse financial conditions, unemployment or labour market exclusion. A longitudinal design was employed with data from a sample of 27,773 people interviewed twice (Swedish Surveys of Living Conditions performed by Statistics Sweden), including subjects (n = 12,556) at interview I, without chronic illness or adverse socioeconomic conditions. The odds ratios for labour market exclusion, unemployment, and financial difficulties among people who had acquired LLSI at interview II varied between 1.4 and 4.0 for the outcomes. The elevated OR decreased after testing for the mediating effect of social context and the labour market position for financial difficulties but remained significantly elevated. The results suggest that LLSI increases the risk of adverse financial conditions, unemployment, and of not being economically active.

An Analysis of the Processes of Labor Market Exclusion and (Re-)Inclusion

An Analysis of the Processes of Labor Market Exclusion and (Re-)Inclusion

Race, Labor Market Disadvantage, and Survivalist Entrepreneurship: Black Women in the Urban North During the Great Depression

The resource constraint version of the disadvantage theory of entrepreneurship holds that members of destitute ethnic groups often respond to labor market exclusion by becoming “survivalist entrepreneurs,” that is, persons who start marginal businesses in response to a need to become self-employed. Applying this theory, I analyze survivalist entrepreneurship among Black women in the urban North during the Great Depression, when many Black women had to find an independent means of livelihood. I hypothesize that (1) the participation of Black women in entrepreneurial occupations, i.e., occupations that lend themselves to self-employment, was positively associated with the disadvantage of these women in the labor market and (2) Black women would be inclined to participate in those entrepreneurial occupations with low barriers to entry, namely, boarding and lodging house keeping and hairdressing and beauty culture. These occupations, according to a review of historical studies, provided northern Black women with their best opportunities for survivalist entrepreneurship. The analyses of census data support my hypotheses and suggest that the resource constraint version of the disadvantage theory of entrepreneurship is relevant to the economic adjustment strategies of northern Black women during the nation's worst employment crisis.

‘Gypsies to the Camps!’: Exclusion and Marginalisation of Roma in the Czech Republic

Under Communism the Roma minority in the Czech Republic were subject to severe state directed assimilation policies. Since the end of the Cold War they have endured a combination of labour market exclusion and racially motivated violence. The apparent historical discontinuity between the Communists’ strategies of assimilation and the current forms of exclusion and marginalisation is often explained by pointing to the social and economic upheaval caused by the transition to capitalism, or the resurgence of ‘ancient ethnic hatreds’. When examining anti-Roma racism (or other examples of ethnic conflict) in the former Communist countries of Europe, commentators tend to regard it as signifying the backwardness of these nations. These perspectives ignore racism's modern aspect. In contrast this paper seeks to highlight some of the continuities between the situation of Roma today and their historical position. It uses Simmel's concept of ‘the Stranger’ as applied by Bauman to understand the ambivalent place of Roma in European modernity, at times subject to coercive assimilation, at other times on the receiving end of racial violence. It challenges narratives which attempt to Orientalise racism as the preserve of ‘uncivilised and backward’ nations or a white underclass. It seeks to put racism in its place as a part of European modernity and its deployment of assimilative or exclusionary strategies against ‘Stranger’ minorities.

Women, work and family in the new Länder: Conflicts and experiences

Drawing on published statistical accounts and personal testimony, the paper argues that east German women generally were disadvantaged after unification for reasons of lower pay, occupational status or non‐transferable qualifications, with motherhood the biggest employment disadvantage of all. Most at risk of unemployment have been single mothers, and households with children headed by a woman are in the lower income brackets. Their employment motivation unabated, east German women of all age groups have developed active strategies of combating unemployment through retraining, participation in employment creating schemes and, among younger women, by postponing childbirth. In the GDR, it was the woman who was expected to change her employment to accommodate family responsibility; in the risk society since unification, this individual resourcefulness and adaptability has become a crucial means of fighting labour market exclusion.

Microcredit meets social exclusion: learning with difficulty from international experience

This paper discusses a pilot project in the UK which is providing training, credit, and support to women from low-income communities in Norfolk (in the east of England). As well as situating this initiative in the contexts of wider debates within development studies, international political economy and social and labour-market policy, the author is able to provide an insider's perspective, as Chair of the voluntary organization which has co-ordinated the development and funding for this project, and overseen the policy and practical negotiations with a range of local, national, and international partners, as well as with beneficiaries and the participants (Pearson and Watson, 1997). The discussion raises important questions both for assumptions about the convergence of the analysis of and policy on social exclusion and poverty in the North and the South, and for the relevance of the expertise of international development organizations seeking to transfer their experience in developing countries to current initiatives in the UK and other industrialized countries aimed at reducing welfare dependence and social and labour-market exclusion. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

British Ethnic Minorities and Employment Training: Redressing or Extending Disadvantage?

The reasons which have been offered to explain the low labour market success encountered by ethnic minorities in Britain include their possible lack of motivation, lack of qualification and training opportunities, and discrimination in the labour market. Whilst discrimination as a contributory factor to labour market exclusion has been widely discussed in the literature, the efficacy of Government sponsored training schemes designed to equip ethnic minorities with skills which may improve their competitiveness and reduce their disadvantage has been subjected to less scrutiny. This article provides an evaluation of the role of Government sponsored employment training programmes in reducing ethnic minorities’ disadvantaged position in the labour market. It argues that training programmes designed to improve employment opportunities are failing members of the ethnic minority communities and are in some cases helping to extend their disadvantage. It identifies the reasons for the failure as (1) the constant changes in Government policies with the development of sometimes contradictory policies, and (2) the inefficiency and prejudice of the training and employing organisations which are involved in the process. The article concludes with an assessment of the consequences of continuing discrimination against ethnic minority communities.

Exclusion, Unemployment and Non-employment

GREEN A. E. (1997) Exclusion, unemployment and non-employment, Reg. Studies 31, 505‐520. This paper provides an overview of selected issues pertinent to an examination of comparative experiences of exclusion, with foremost emphasis on the labour market dimension of exclusion ‐ notably unemployment and non-employment. The way in which ‘losers' and ‘winners' emerge as a result of changes in the socio-economic environment is outlined, with particular attention paid to identification of who the losers are, and where they are located. Specific remarks and empirical details of the UK experience are used for illustrative purposes, but much of the discussion relates to the situation in European Union countries more generally. Drawing on this review, some of the issues surrounding the identification and measurement of the unemployed and non-employed are explored, and the need for a range of alternative indicators and methodological perspectives on labour market exclusion is discussed. Finally, some of the issues relevant to the formulation of successful policies to combat unemployment and nonemployment are outlined. GREEN A. E. (1997) L'exclusion, le chômage et l'inactivité, Reg. Studies 31, 505-520. Cet article fournit une vue d'ensemble de certaines questions relatives à un examen des expériences comparées de l'exclusion, soulignant en tout premier lieu l'exclusion dans le contexte du marché du travail - notamment le chômage et l'inactivité. On esquisse la façon dont apparaissent les 'gagnants' et les 'perdants' suite à l'évolution du milieu social et économique, faisant une attention particulièrè a l'identitédes 'perdants' et de leur lieu de résidence. A titre d'exemple, on se sert des observations spécifiques et des détails empiriques relatifs à ce qui s'est passé au Royaume-Uni, mais la discussion se rapporte largement à la situation générale dans les pays membres de l'Union européenne. Puisant dans cette vue d'ensemble, quelquesunes des questions relatives à l'identification et à la mesure du chômage et de l'inactivité sont examinées, et le besoin d'une gamme plus large d'indicateurs alternatifs et de perspectives méthodologiques traitant de l'exclusion du marché du travail sont discutés. Pour conclure, quelques-unes des questions pertinentes à la mise au point des politiques qui ont du succès et qui visent la maîtrise du chômage et de l'inactivité sont esquissées. GREEN A. E. (1997) Ausgeschlossensein, Erwerbslosigkeit und Nichtbescha¨ftigung, Reg. Studies 31, 505‐520. Dieser Aufsatz vermittelt einen U¨berblick u¨ber ausgewa¨hlte Themen, die sich auf eine Untersuchung vergleichbarer Erfahrungen des Ausgeschlossenseins beziehen, wobei die Hauptbetonung auf der Arbeitsmarktdimension des Ausgeschlossenseins liegt, vorallem der Erwerbslosigkeit und des Nichtbescha¨ftigtseins. Es wird die Art und Weise umrissen, in der Wandlungen im sozio-o¨konomischen Klima Verlierer und Gewinner hervobringen, wobei die Aufmerksamkeit sich besonders darauf richtet, festzustellen, wer und wo die Verlierer sind. Es werden zwar spezifische Anmerkungen und empirische Einzelheiten von Erfahrungen im Vereinigten Ko¨nigreich zum Zwecke der Erla¨uterung benutzt, doch der Hauptteil der Diskussion bescha¨ftigt sich mit der Situation in den La¨ndern in der Europa¨ischen Union im allgemeinen. Fragen der Identifizierung und Messung der Erwerbslosen und Nichtbescha¨ftigten werden sodann auf der Grundlage dieses U¨berblicks untersucht, und die Notwendigkeit einer Palette alternativer Indikatoren und methodologischer Ansa¨tze betreff Ausgeschlossensein vom Arbeitsmarkt besprochen. Abschließend werden einige Themen im Umriß hervorgehoben, die sich auf die Formulierung erfolgversprechender Bestrebungen zur Beka¨mpfung der Erwerbslosigkeit und Nichtbescha¨ftigung beziehen.

From labour market exclusion to industrial solidarity: Australian trade union responses to Asian workers, 1830–1988

Journal Article From labour market exclusion to industrial solidarity: Australian trade union responses to Asian workers, 1830–1988 Get access Michael Quinlan, Michael Quinlan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Constance Lever-Tracy Constance Lever-Tracy ⋆Division of Commerce and Administration, Griffith UniversityBrisbane Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 14, Issue 2, June 1990, Pages 159–181, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035124 Published: 01 June 1990 Article history Received: 07 September 1987 Accepted: 10 March 1989 Published: 01 June 1990