Labor Market Instability Research Articles

Unraveling Youth Indebtedness in China: A Case Study Based on the “Debtors Avengers” Community on Douban

Over-indebtedness is an increasingly serious issue among young people in China. Using Atlas.ti, this study analyzes textual data from the online community “Debtors Avengers” on Douban.com, applying a combined framework of life cycle and credit liberalization hypotheses. The findings reveal that youth indebtedness is not solely driven by irrational consumer behavior but is closely linked to economic activities during specific life stages. Structurally, it reflects sociofinancial digitization and normalized credit use. Factors such as life circumstances, financial literacy, labor market instability, and public safety risks contribute to a “debt spiral”. Addressing these challenges requires the refinement of financial policies, enhanced education, and intervention in financial aggression.

Unstable employment careers and (quasi-)completed fertility: evidence from the labour market deregulation in Italy

Abstract Most research on the fertility consequences of labour market instability has focussed on the transition to parenthood, ignoring potential ‘catching up’ effects and, thus, the more encompassing view on cohort fertility. This work extends on this point by analysing the consequences of employment instability on (quasi-)completed fertility for men and women in Italy. From a cohort perspective, we look at fertility outcomes at age 41 among those who experienced labour market deregulation (cohorts born between 1966 and 1975) in comparison with the previous cohorts (those born between 1951 and 1965) and relate the fertility outcome to the instability of their employment histories. Based on data from a large-scale, nationally representative retrospective survey, we find that fragmented employment careers and atypical employment periods come with a lower likelihood of ever becoming a parent and a higher probability of having fewer children compared to those with continuous, stable careers. Our study suggests that the consequences of rising labour market instability not only lead to a postponement of childbearing but also lead to overall lower numbers of children, especially for men and younger cohorts. This study adds to previous research by suggesting that recuperation in employment instability-induced childbearing postponement does not take place to a sufficient extent, at least in Italy.

공통요인 효과를 고려한 아태지역 국가의 합계출산율 결정요인 분석

Purpose - This study examines the impact on total fertility rate in 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on female labor market participation and labor market instability. Design/Methodology/Approach - There is a common factors effect of cross-sectional dependence on the total fertility rate, explanatory variables, and residuals. Therefore, it was estimated using the CS-ARDL (Cross-Sectionally augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags) model that considers the dynamics of total fertility rate, common factors effect, and heterogeneity by country. Findings - Female labor market participation and labor market instability have a negative (-) effect on the total fertility rate, but the coefficient of the interaction term is estimated to have a positive (+) sign, so it should be considered in the impact of the labor force participation rate and unemployment rate. Research Implications - A low female labor force participation rate and unemployment rate drive a high total fertility rate, but countries with a high labor force participation rate should have a high unemployment rate, and countries with a high unemployment rate should have a high labor force participation rate. Therefore, policies are needed to enable women to balance work and family life, and facilitate entry into the labor market.

Впровадження технологій штучного інтелекту в роботу відділу продажів

The article is devoted to the study of the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the work of sales departments in enterprises. The paper emphasizes the importance of AI as a tool for optimizing business processes in the context of economic challenges, particularly within the framework of the war in Ukraine, which has led to labor market instability and financial difficulties. Automation of routine tasks, analysis of large data volumes, and increasing personalization of customer interactions are key aspects of AI use in sales departments, which significantly reduces costs and increases productivity. AI is defined as a branch of computer science that develops systems and algorithms capable of performing tasks traditionally considered intellectual for humans. This includes information processing, data-based learning, adaptation to new conditions, and decision-making. The essence of AI lies in creating technologies that can analyze complex data, recognize patterns, understand natural language, and engage in creativity. In the context of the research topic, the article provides AI tools for sales departments in enterprises: sales automation: data analysis and forecasting; personalization of customer interactions; query processing and customer support; lead management; sales forecasting. It is substantiated that these tools help companies optimize processes in sales departments, increase team efficiency, and improve customer interactions. The article presents an author's practical model for optimizing human resources, which includes reducing staff while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of the remaining employees through AI implementation. It is shown that such a model not only optimizes work processes but also enhances the financial stability of the enterprise. The article also explores the stages of AI integration, from business process analysis to practical implementation and result evaluation. The results confirm that the implementation of AI in sales departments is a strategically important step for enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises in the face of modern economic challenges.

Intergenerational Interdependence of Labour Market Careers.

Labour market disadvantages tend to run in families: children who grow up with parents who experience job losses or receive low wages are themselves at higher risk of experiencing labour market difficulties. However, little is known about the intergenerational transmission for those who manage to escape from precariousness, and how the transmission of labour marketdisadvantageoperates depending on the gender structure of parent-child dyads. The present study uses Swedish register data and longitudinal methods that follow a cohort of people born in 1985 (n=72,409) and their parents across 26 years. Our findings show that children who experienced parental employment disadvantages had the most severe labour market disadvantages later in life. However, if the employment situations of their parents improved, they were somewhat more likely to follow a more stable, high-wage career path compared to children whose parents experienced more persistent forms of disadvantage, such as long-term unemployment or severe labour market instability. We also show that the mother's labour market disadvantages were an important determinant of the future labour market career of her child, regardless of gender. This finding underscores the need to go beyond the analysis of father-son dyads in intergenerational research.

Pause, Pivot, and Shift: Situational Human Capital and Responses to Sudden Job Loss

How, in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, do workers respond to rapid changes in the labor market? This paper mobilizes existing literature on occupational mobility and job loss to develop a theory of situational human capital in which some workers are better positioned to weather occupational transitions than others depending on the alignment between their skill sets, opportunities, and particular contexts. Previous literature looks at this in the case of “pausing,” when workers, such as women, take time off from work. Relatively less explored but equally consequential are transitions like “pivoting,” in which workers maneuver within their occupations to adjust their practices or platforms in order to keep working, and “shifting,” in which workers change their occupations altogether. Since most government unemployment benefits focus almost exclusively on workers’ pauses, they neglect to support workers as they pivot and shift during periods of labor market instability and disruption. This paper concludes by offering some policy recommendations to fill this gap.

Прекаризация занятости молодежи в контексте последствий пандемии COVID-19

Objective: to assess the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on the youth labor market in the context of the spread of precarization processes in employment.Methods: qualitative methods were used to analyze labor market institutions, together with in-depth interviews and interpretative analysis of actors’ discourses.Results: the COVID-2019 pandemic posed new challenges to the economy and contributed to the active development of new employment formats and employer-employee interaction in the form of informal employment, freelance platforms, and precariat development. The article considers the features and risks of informal and non-standard employment. Based on the labor market analysis, we determined the impact of the pandemic on working conditions, inequality growth and the increasing role of the informal sector. The impact of the crisis on employment conditions for young people with higher education is particularly emphasized. To form the models of students’ behavior under the conditions of labor market instability, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with students and graduates of the Southern Federal University to assess the employment opportunities of university graduates. The characteristics of respondents’ perception of the processes associated with precarization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic consequences are clarified and specified. Scientific novelty: it consists in the development of theoretical and methodological approaches to the analysis of precarization of youth employment in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic consequences. It is shown that the observed increase of employment precarization is associated with behavioral features caused by dominant behavioral models and distortions in the perception of unstable employment by university graduates in relation to the structural opportunities provided by the labor market.Practical significance: the identified features of employment of the Russian university graduates can be used to develop recommendations for improving the system for monitoring the employment precarization level in the regional labor markets.

School Failure in the Region of Madrid (Spain): An Approximation through Diagnostic Assessment in 2019

Education is considered to be one of the main factors of development, economic growth and social progress. No country can achieve sustainable economic development without substantial investment in human capital. In Spain, school failure represents one of the main problems in the educational system, with potentially dramatic consequences for the basic competences required in the labour market and job instability, with the risk of economic and social exclusion. In this paper, we aim to identify the factors that define the risk of school failure in Madrid (Spain) by applying logit models. In this process we use a definition of school failure risk which relates to the probability of scoring below level 2 in the evaluation of competences (diagnostic assessment), and we use grade retention as a proxy of school failure. The variables included in the model cover several areas, such as personal, family and school characteristics. The results show that it is important that the policies to strengthen the educational system begin with early childhood education, as educational delay symptoms are detected, and it is necessary to intensify efforts towards personalized assistance to help identify potential learning problems, especially in those groups in the worst socioeconomic situations, which are most at risk of school failure.

Youth employment and unemployment rates in Kosovo

The main aim of this study is to analyse the employment and unemployment rates in the Western Balkans, looking particularly at youth (aged 18–24 years) unemployment in Kosovo. The results of the study show that unemployment in this age group is high and that labour market policies are also not appropriate. The empirical study was conducted during the pandemic (2020), but statistics for study needs were used from the period 2001–2019. It involved young people aged 18–24 and used data from various local and international institutions regarding the labour market for young people, labour market policy, etc. The study shows that in Kosovo, 48.7% of young people aged 18–24 are unemployed and that the most pronounced unemployment is among women. A significant proportion of the young population is unemployed (46.4%) and youth unemployment among females is higher (53.6%) compared to males (42.9%) (Kosovo Agency of Statistics, 2020b). Kosovo’s problem with youth unemployment is the result of poor economic development as well as inefficient labour market policies. The study recommends that policymakers develop sustainable and effective policies that will lead to stability in youth employment and improve the labour market performance. These policies should help organizations and businesses to increase the number of employees, but should also create long-term employment stability. Furthermore, a critical appraisal is necessary to avoid youth unemployment, instability in youth employment and labour market instability as a whole

Young people's labour market patterns and later mental health: A sequence analysis exploring the role of region of origin for young people's labour market trajectories and mental health.

•Experiencing early employment disadvantage could lead to long-term labour market instability and labour market exclusion.•Migrants showed more turbulent transitions between labour market states than natives.•Belonging to a turbulent labour market trajectory is association with poor mental ill health in mid-life.

Divergent fortunes: growing wealth inequality and widening entrepreneurship by age

ABSTRACTEntrepreneurship can offer people control over their working lives. Yet, it has declined among households younger than 50 years and grown among older households. We examine the relationship between growing wealth inequality and this widening entrepreneurial age disparities by focusing on wealth as a source of income diversification. Our main hypothesis is that younger households have less capital income from wealth holdings leading to less diversification as compared to older households. Using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regressions based on data from the Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), we conclude that the gap in households’ entrepreneurial responsiveness to income diversification has widened by age. We also find that households’ capital income receipt follows from wealth such that rising wealth inequality may have impeded income diversification and reduced entrepreneurship among households with less wealth, especially younger ones. We rule out three alternative explanations: increasing economic pressures from labor market instability, tightening of liquidity constraints, and in declines in nonpecuniary rewards – for the divergent entrepreneurship trends.

Professionalizing Contingency: How Journalism Schools Adapt to Deprofessionalization

AbstractMany professional labor markets are currently experiencing signs of deprofessionalization, including automation of tasks and increasingly unstable employment conditions. Drawing on the case of journalism schools, this article examines how these shifts affect professional education, which has historically been positioned as a means to avoiding precarious employment. How do professional schools cope with inimical disruptions to the labor markets for which they are training students? Based on 113 in-depth interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators from 44 U.S. journalism programs, we argue that journalism schools have sought to reframe labor market instability as an inevitable and even desirable aspect of journalistic practice and professional identity. They do this by dismantling boundaries, valorizing entrepreneurialism, and seeking to alter institutional practices to emphasize skills over abstract knowledge. Taken together, we call this professionalizing contingency. As labor market precarity continues to spread within expert and professional fields, our findings have implications for broader sociological understandings of professional education.

Changes in household poverty among South Korean young adults: Decomposition analysis for 1995, 2006 and 2016

This study analysed the causes behind changes in the poverty rate among young South Korean households, using the 1995, 2006 and 2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Labour market instability has intensified since the Asian economic crisis of 1997. This has increased the risk of poverty among young people who lack financial assets and must obtain economic security through work. The poverty rates among people aged 18–29 have steadily increased. Using Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, this study evaluated the contribution that characteristics and structure make to poverty rate changes. The study found that the poverty rate was lower in households with a higher level of education and in households with fewer members. The study also found that the poverty rate was higher in female‐headed households and in households where fewer of its members were employed. Furthermore, the poverty rate was found to have increased among the younger population in general. These findings indicate that social policies should take into consideration the changing life circumstances of young adults.

Characterisation of structure and trends in the higher education

Romanian education system faces structural failures due to increased labour market instability and the proliferation of austere economic policies in adjusting the value of GDP. Open competition on the labour market, both in the EU and countries outside the European Union also stresses the need to adapt the education system to meet current and future needs of society by contributing to the development of information technology research and eco-awareness. The education system in Romania will have to take into account the need to give people the skills and abilities needed to adapt quickly to a changing labour market.
 Keywords: High education system, study programs, macro economical indicators, linear trend, labour market.

The Moral Economy of the Scottish Coalfields: Managing Deindustrialization under Nationalization c.1947–1983

This article examines conceptions of social justice and economic fairness with regard to employment. It does so through an analysis of the management of deindustrialization in the Scottish coalfields between the 1940s and 1980s. Emphasis is placed on the historical roots and social and political constitutions of labor market practices. The analysis is grounded within Karl Polanyi’sGreat Transformation; industrial relations within coal mining are conceived through an ongoing conflict between commodifying, liberalizing market forces and a “counter-movement” of worker and community resistance and state regulation, which works to embed markets within social and political priorities. E. P. Thompson’s moral economy provides the basis for an understanding of the formulation of communal expectations and employment practices that acted to mitigate the disruption caused by pit closures. The analysis grounds the historical roots of the moral economy within Poalnyi’s counter-movement and illuminates the operation of specific practices of a Thompsonian character within the nationalized industry, which maintained individual and collective employment stability. This is constructed utilizing interviews with former mineworkers and members of mining families. These are supplemented by archival sources that include the minutes of Colliery Consultative Committee meetings, which took place before pit closures. They reveal the moral economy was fundamentally centered on the control of resources, collieries, and the employment they provided rather than simply elements of financial compensation for those suffering from labor market instability. Resultantly procedure centering on collective consultation was fundamental in legitimating colliery closures.

Workplace inequality, trade unions and the transnational regulation of the employment relationships

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on research on the strategies of inequality at the workplace level of multinational corporations within the context characterized by the weakening of traditional bargaining and representation structures. Through which specific strategies multinational corporations foster inequality across different workplaces across borders and how do trade unions in Europe respond to it?Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a conceptual one and it is based on existing qualitative comparative research developed by the author.FindingsThe regulatory regime of organized and governed labor markets and employment relationships is undermined by the employment relationships becoming increasingly unstable in most industrialized countries in Europe. The breakdown in the collective structures for employment regulation, particularly collective bargaining, has led to growing insecurity and inequality among working people. At the workplace level of multinationals inequality is fostered by strategies of flexibilization and benchmarking which force trade unions to negotiate concessions regarding the working conditions of different workers. Trade unions are seeking effective responses to increasing labor market instability and inequality. The paper argues that the transnational regulation of employment relationships through the European Framework Agreements (EFAs) can serve the purpose of constraining benchmarking, while containing workplace inequality.Originality/valueThis paper offers an in-depth view that the EFAs can constrain the multinationals’ strategies of benchmarking and workplace inequality. This is because EFAs can potentially spread across countries the positive gains of local negotiations where unions are able to negotiate on employment protection to other local subsidiaries where unions may struggle to do so.

Self-Perpetuation of Gender Inequality in Education and Economic Growth: An Empirical Study Applied to CEMAC Countries

The global objective of the paper is to analyze the impact of gender inequality in education on economic growth in the CEMAC countries for the period 1971-2014. In order to present the potential of the approach, two themes are examined: the self-perpetuation of gender inequality and the effect on economic growth. In this context, we use a simultaneous equations model with error components. The results suggest that there is self-perpetuation of gender inequality. The effects of the inequalities in education on economic growth are direct and indirect through public investment, labor market and political instability. Therefore, the CEMAC countries must increase their public expenditure on education system and reduce gender inequality in labor market for better reducing gender inequality in education, and so to promote economic growth. Political stability is also important for fighting against gender inequality in education.

Significance of educational and vocational counselling in low-skilled people's narratives

ABSTRACTIn the contemporary world, many people find themselves confused and challenged by unpredictability of life paths, labour market instability and necessary revisions to vocational careers. They may be helped by professional support institutions. For some people, seeking professional help when facing a predicament is evidence of resourcefulness. Others, however, perceive a request for help as expressive of vulnerability and a lack of self-reliance in coping with life problems. In this article, we examine 15 interviews with low-skilled and low-educated people in Poland about their experiences with educational and vocational counselling as well as the relevance they attribute to past meetings with counsellors. Concluding, we formulate recommendations for Polish educational and vocational counselling.

Motivated employee blindness: The impact of labor market instability on judgment of organizational inefficiencies

While employees might be expected to be especially vigilant to problems within their organization during times of economic instability, we build on motivational perspectives put forth by System Justification Theory to propose the opposite effect, namely that economic instability enhances employees’ tendency to defensively ignore and diminish organizational problems. We experimentally manipulated perceptions of labor market trends and asked participants to report on problems within their own actual organization. As predicted, an ostensibly weak external labor market led employees to perceive their organization as less inefficient (Study 1), identify fewer organizational efficiency problems (Study 2), downplay the impact of organizational inefficiencies (Study 3), and generate a greater ratio of pros to cons regarding how their organization is run (Study 4), compared to employees exposed to relatively favorable labor market information. Results suggest an enhanced motivation to deny the existence of organizational flaws when employment alternatives are perceived to be scarce.

Negotiating care and career within institutional constraints – work insecurity and gendered ideals of parenthood in Finland

Parenthood still bears gendered consequences for the lives of women and men. Individualisation theories explain the different employment and care patterns as resulting from free choices concerning individual lifestyle preferences, while institutional approaches underline the significance of structural or cultural context in creating constraints or possibilities in individuals' lives. In this article, mothers' and fathers' choices concerning care and career are examined in the Finnish context of gender equal family policy and employment flexibility. Two kinds of flexibility are analysed: part-time work, which is rare even for mothers; and temporary work, the use of which is strongly gendered and concerns especially highly educated young women. Analysing 29 qualitative semistructured interviews of Finnish parents, the study shows how mothers' and fathers' diverse preferences are negotiated into choices between structural frames created by labour market instability and cultural conceptions about the division of labour between parents. These choices are negotiated not only with oneself but also in relation to the other parent's preferences and situations. The employment situations and cultural understandings of parenthood intertwine in diverse ways in the parents’ arrangements concerning employment and care, in which the spouses’ relative positions in the labour market prove to be significant.