Low-skilled Labor Force Research Articles

Can Digital Economy Drive Income Level Growth in the Context of Sustainable Development? Fresh Evidence from “Broadband China”

In the context of the rapid development of digital economy and the promotion of sustainable development, this paper focuses on the impact of digital economy on income levels. Based on the panel data of 195 prefecture-level cities, the “Broadband China” pilot has been regarded as a natural experiment for the measurement of the digital economy. In this paper, a time-varying DID model was established to evaluate the influential effect of “Broadband China” on income growth. It was found that the coming into service of “Broadband China” has increased the overall income level of the Chinese labor force. Further research found that “Broadband China” has done more to raise the income levels of the high-skilled labor force, thus widening the income gap between the high-, medium-, and low-skilled labor force. “Broadband China” can affect the income growth via two mechanisms, namely, “increasing the entrepreneurship rate” and “leading to an increase in the overall number of professional and skilled labor force in China”. In this case, the entrepreneurship rate of the high-skilled labor force may be higher than that of the medium- and low-skilled labor force due to human capital accumulation. The rapid increase in the high-skilled labor force in technical industries will lead to the situation where their income growth effect is higher than that of the medium- and low-skilled labor force. Based on the above research results, this paper puts forward policy suggestions from three aspects: further accelerating the process of digital economy; improving the institutional environment of the broadband network and standardizing the order of the construction of the broadband network; and further stimulating the entrepreneurial motivation of labor force, paying attention to the problem of skill bias and optimizing the employment structure, balancing efficiency and equity, and contributing to the ultimate sustainable development of developing countries.

Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship: Heterogeneity of Labor Force Skills

This study investigates the effect of digital economy on entrepreneurship. Our empirical results show that digital economic development significantly increases the probability of labor force participation in entrepreneurial activities. Digital economy also has a polarizing effect on entrepreneurial behavior. It significantly promotes the entrepreneurial probability of the low-skilled labor force but has a positive and an insignificant effect on the high-skilled labor force. Our findings contribute to enacting improved policies on entrepreneurial behavior and employment.

Skill in Indian Labour Market: Current Trends and Estimating Future Gaps

Countries with a higher proportion of the working age population can achieve higher growth rate if this labour force is employed optimally and productively. India is going through this stage of demographic transition but the recent macroeconomic trend does not indicate that India is reaping any demographic dividend. A large mass of manpower is not engaged productively and both unemployment and underemployment are increasing. A mismatch between labour demand and labour supply both in terms of quantity and quality is observed. In this context, this article tries to forecast the future labour market situation in India across different industries, occupations and skill groups. Results indicate surplus labour for lower skill categories and shortages for higher skill categories soon. The new economy is expected to be more dependent on machines and skilled workers conversant with them. With the fourth industrial revolution looming large, demand for skilled professionals would increase further, while a huge surplus of low-skilled labour force released by the primary sectors would coexist. A twin strategy of targeted employment expansion programs and up-skilling labour force to fit the demands of the new economy is called for. Otherwise, a demographic disaster would explode in our faces.JEL: E24, J6, J10, J11, J23, J24

The Impact of Internet Development on Labor Mobility

This paper makes a theoretical analysis on the impact of Internet development on the floating population's willingness to stay. It uses the method of principal component analysis to measure the Internet development level of 290 cities in China. On this basis, it matches the micro data of individual labor force and empirically tests the impact of Internet development on the floating population's willingness to stay. The research finds that the development level of urban Internet will limit and reduce the migrant population's willingness to emigrate. For each unit of urban Internet development, the possibility of labor force's intention to emigrate from the city will be reduced by 11.44%; Compared with the middle-aged and the old and the low skilled labor force, the middle-aged and the young and the high skilled urban labor force are more sensitive and responsive to the Internet, and are more likely to be encouraged by the development of the Internet and choose to stay in their cities. This study provides policy implications for urban talent attraction and labor competition.

Could Job Stability Alter Worker’s Employment Intentions: Micro Evidence from CFPS-2018

This paper develops a micro-perspective indicator of job stability, and by using data from the 2018 Micro China Family Panel Studies (CFPS-2018), it empirically examines the impact of job stability on non-farm employment of urban and rural residents in China. The results showcase: Firstly, job stability is a core factor of labor force participation at present; secondly, based on the heterogeneous exploration of urban-rural household registration differences and skill levels, it is found that job stability promotes non-farm employment more for the rural population than urban population; in the meanwhile, the impact of job stability on non-farm employment is greater for low-skilled labor force than for medium-skilled labor, but for high-skilled labor, the impact is the lowest; Thirdly, this paper proposes policy suggestions for enhancing job stability and workers' employment participation.

How Does Digital Finance Affect People’s Income: Evidence from China

Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2010 to 2018 and the Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index from 2011 to 2018, this research explores the effect of digital financial development on residents’ income and the channels of influence. The findings suggest that the growth of digital financial services has a significant and favourable influence on citizens’ income. Furthermore, digital financial development benefits rural populations, low-skilled workers, and individuals working in basic industries the most. The extension of inhabitants’ employment space, better access to credit, and ease of access to information online are the major ways that digital financial development influences their income. In particular, the expansion of employment space has a greater positive impact on the low-skilled labor force, rural residents, and those in primary and secondary industries, while access to information is more likely to explain the increase in income of urban residents, and credit has an advantage in promoting income growth for the low-skilled laborers and those in traditional industries.

How Do City Size and Immigration Policies Affect Labor Mobility?

This paper uses the micro data from the National Health Commission’s “China floating population dynamic monitoring survey” (CMDS) project, and uses probit and Ivprobit models to analyze the impact of policy selection on Labor mobility Decision-making under different city sizes. The results show that: (1) the larger the city size, the more conducive to labor inflow, and the externality of human capital has a positive regulatory effect; (2) the impact of city size on Labor mobility has policy screening heterogeneity, the more obvious the policy threshold, the more conducive to high-level labor inflow. Making more reasonable labor policy, reducing the threshold of labor inflow, breaking the barriers of labor inflow, balancing the gap between high skilled labor force and low skilled labor force, weakening the crowding out effect of urban scale expansion and labor policy can effectively attract talents and promote urban development.

Rethinking African globalisation agenda: Lessons from COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in a synchronized disruption of the global economy, globalization agenda, and re-emergence of protectionism. Africa appears to be worse-off by the re-emergence of protectionism despite the increasing debate that globalization tends to increase intra-country inequality and poverty in Africa. We argue that the enormous benefit Africa derived from globalization, especially, during the COVID-19 pandemic, makes it imperative for the African Union to rethink its globalization strategy, as well as strategies to mitigate African economies from the vulnerability of future pandemic. We argue that the vulnerability of African economies to the COVID-19 could be traced to characteristics of African economies, such as the dominance of low-skilled labour force, informally employed workers that do not have the option of working remotely, digital divide due to poor internet penetration, urban and rural structures that promote the spread of a virus, and breakdown of critical global supply chain may. On the basis of the above, we recommend that African Union globalization agenda should focus on promoting massive investment in virtual economic activities; global ecological responsible public policies; a more inclusive policies that promotes access to education. healthcare, and resources; and redesign urban settlement to reduce the spread of diseases.

Migration policy of Argentina: current trends

The article examines current trends in the implementation of Argentina's migration policy. Historical, political and legal preconditions for the transformation of the state into a country-recipient of migration flows are traced. The author examines modern normative legal acts regulating the country's migration policy. Their similarity and difference from the normative legal acts that governed migration policy during the XIX—XX centuries are demonstrated. Special attention is paid to the economic foundations of migration policy. The author argues that the current content of migration flows is determined by the structure of the country's export-oriented economy, which, due to its content, requires a low-skilled labor force. This is the reason for the imbalance in the country's migration flows ("brain drain" in exchange for low-skilled labor). However, a significant inflow of low-skilled labor force creates social tension, which, according to the author, can be removed by implementing programs for the adaptation of migrants. However, the Argentine leadership has now decided to finance anti-migration programs.

Minimum wage policy with optimal taxes and unemployment

Using a search model, I derive a formula that links the welfare gains from the minimum wage to its effect on low-skilled labor force participation and employment. This formula shows that the minimum wage is welfare improving if pushing the low-skilled labor market tightness downwards brings it closer to its efficient level. I estimate the causal effect of the minimum wage on low-skilled labor force participation and employment using federal and state minimum wage variation. I discuss the policy implications of my estimates when viewed through the lens of the marginal welfare gain formula.

ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ ЗАСАДИ УПРАВЛІННЯ КАПІТАЛІЗАЦІЄЮ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

Even today we can predict that the main consequence of the new technological wave will be that the cost of labor will cease to be decisive in the formation of production costs. This means that the low-skilled labor force that makes up developing countries and some sectors of the Ukrainian economy will cease to be significant. And the main factor will be the technological potential. Ukrainian higher education institutions also see great prospects in the further development of digitalization. Digital business transformation is a smarter result. The combination of digital technologies with the organizational and human changes needed to build a digital information-oriented culture allows organizations, including corporate entities, to significantly increase business efficiency

Why workers\u2019 turnover is so high: managed flexibility and the intermediary chain of China\u2019s migrant labor market

Looking at how the global factories organize and control their labor forces sustainably and effectively, a considerable number of studies have focused on the politics of production but have seldom discussed the organization of the labor market beyond the workplace. Based on fieldwork about labor recruitment in the manufacturing industry in City W, this article analyzes the organizational ecology of the current labor market and its embedded institutional environment. It shows that to satisfy factories’ demand for flexible labor, the organizational ecology of the labor market has developed an intermediary chain characterized by multilevel outsourcing, an elaborate division of labor, and constant internal competition and cooperation. Although the intermediary chain coordinates flexible production, its profit-making model and business strategies drive up labor costs, consistently aggravating labor turnover and constructing low-skilled labor force. Local government, enterprises, and workers are the three forces constituting the institutional environment that nurtures this intermediary chain. Each of them makes use of “flexibility” for their own interests, unintentionally increasing the risks to the production system.

Munkajogi és gazdasági kihívások a jövő munkaerőpiacán

A tanulmány célja megvizsgálni azt, hogy a globalizáció hatásai milyen módon érintik a globális munkaerőpiacot, hogyan befolyásolja a nagyfokú automatizáció és digitalizáció a munkaerőpiac szereplőivel szembeni elvárásokat, a munkajog világát. Elemezzük az ipar új kihívásaival kapcsolatos kompetenciák megszerzésének jogi kereteit és közgazdasági, társadalmi hasznosságát. Részletesebben vizsgáljuk az alacsony képzettségű munkaerő jövőjét a változó munkaerőpiacon, az új kompetenciák megszerzésének a függvényében. Feltevésünk szerint a munkaerőpiacon végbemenő változások és újszerű folyamatok új kihívásokat támasztanak a munkaadók és a munkavállalók számára is. A munkaerő-piaci változások felvetik azokat a kérdéseket, hogy az állását elvesztő munkavállaló az új kompetenciák megszerzéséig milyen ellátásban részesüljön. A mai értelemben vett szociális ellátó rendszer képes-e támogatni az élethosszig tartó tanulást, vagy szükséges-e olyan alternatív megoldási lehetőségek vizsgálata, mint az alapjövedelem? Mindezeknek a jogi és közgazdasági vizsgálata, a hatékonyság és gazdaságosság fogalmainak tükrében szükséges megvalósítani. Ennek oka, hogy az új munkavállaló kompetenciák megszerzése, új hozzáadott értéket is jelent.

Реализация указа Президиума Верховного совета СССР от 26 июня 1940 года в первое полугодие Великой Отечественной войны (на материалах Пермского края)

It is considered the law enforcement practice of implementing the Decree of 26 June 1940 before the adoption of the Decree of 26 December 1941, which increased the criminal penalty for desertion from the labour front. On the basis of statistics on the number of convicted and excluded from the party for violations of labour discipline the author points out the refusal of the party-State authorities to continue the unsystematic punitive policy. This refusal was manifested in the purposeful division of violators of labour discipline into "malicious" and "accidental," in the rules on prevention of illegal cases of criminal prosecution, in some reduction of the number of persons brought to criminal and party disciplinary responsibility, in the general easing and revision of severe penalties. This was due to the high level of social tension caused by the previous course of strengthening punitive policy in the field of labour legal relations and the updated failed outbreak of war. However, during the first six months of the war the number and social composition of rear workers begins to change significantly: in conditions of acute shortage of personnel, the share of low-skilled labor force in the person of graduates of schools of factory training and craft schools mobilized from rural areas by collective farmers, labor workers and prisoners increases. These changes took place in the context of the restructuring of the economy into "military tracks," which was accompanied by the disruption of economic ties between enterprises and the disruption of the supply of raw materials, the downtime of production and the failure to carry out increasing defense tasks, and a significant decrease in the standard of living of workers. This became a socio-economic prerequisite for a rather critical level of negative labour deviations which called into question the performance of defense orders by military industry enterprises. In turn, this circumstance has led to a significant increase in criminal penalties for unauthorized abandonment of the place of work.

Minimum Wage Policy with Optimal Taxes and Unemployment

Using a search model, I derive formula that links the welfare gains from the minimum wage to its effect on low-skilled labor force participation and employment. This formula shows that the minimum wage is welfare improving if pushing the low-skilled labor market tightness downwards brings it closer to its efficient level. I estimate the causal effect of the minimum wage on low-skilled labor force participation and employment using federal and state minimum wage variation. I discuss the policy implications of my estimates when viewed through the lens of the marginal welfare gain formula.

Arrival City — Application of the Game Theories in Renewal of Low-Density Urban Villages

Offering an alternative planning and design strategy of renewals of low-density urban villages, this research estimates potentials of increasing a city’s accommodation capacity of low-skilled labor force through economic approaches like the Game Theories. A design idea of creating an “arrival city” is proposed in the prototypical study on the renewal of the Ganjiazhai Community, a typical urban village in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province. Developing spatial patterns through a series of evidence-based deductions and estimations, this research forms a node-axis framework of urban planning and design that allows for an adaptive combination of spatial modules and encourages spatial sharing, which might shine a reference for future planning and design of urban villages in Chinese cities.

Trade liberalization in El Salvador: impacts on the level of formal employment and real wages

With the recognition that El Salvador is one of the countries with more economic freedoms in Latin America, the question arises of whether the dynamics of trading can be a damaging factor for the generation of formal employment and for the evolution of real wages. This article aims to highlight the impacts of trade liberalization on employment and real wages in El Salvador. Assuming that the structural problems within a country are expressed in international trade, it is important to reflect on the relevance of maintaining the basis of economic liberalization of the economy in El Salvador, which is characterized by little to boost domestic investment, insufficient productive infrastructure, low-skilled labor force, among other things.Realidad: Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades No. 120, 2009: 321-356

A Human Right to Science?: Precarious Labor and Basic Rights in Science and Bioprospecting

Does everyone have the right to benefit from science? If so, what shape should benefits take? This article exposes the inequalities involved in bioprospecting through a relatively neglected human right, the right to benefit from science (HRS). Although underexplored in the literature, it is acknowledged that market-based conservation practices, such as bioprospecting, often rely on cheap “casual” labor. In contrast to critical discourses exposing the exploitation and misappropriation of indigenous people's cultural and self-determination rights in relation to bioprospecting (i.e., biopiracy), the exploitation of a low-skilled labor force for science has been little examined from a human rights perspective. Reliance on cheap labor is not limited just to those directly involved in creating local biodiversity inventories but constitutes a whole set of other workers (cooks, porters, and logistical support staff), who contribute indirectly to the advancements of science and whose contribution is barely acknowledged, let alone financially remunerated. As precarious workers, it is difficult for laborers to use existing national and international labor laws to fight for recognition of their basic rights or easily to rely on biodiversity and environmental laws to negotiate recognition of their contribution to science. We explore to what extent the HRS can be used to encourage governments, civil society, and companies to provide basic labor and social rights to science. This should be of keen interest to geographers, who for the most part have limited engagement in human rights law, and has wider significance for those interested in exploitative labor and rights violations in the emerging bio- and green economy.

Factors influencing motivation and job satisfaction among supervisors of community health workers in marginalized communities in South Africa.

BackgroundManagement and supervision of community health workers are factors that are critical to the success of community health worker programmes. Yet few studies have explored the perspectives of supervisors in these programmes. This study explored factors influencing motivations of supervisors in community health worker programmes.MethodsWe conducted qualitative interviews with 26 programme staff providing supervision to community health workers in eight community-based organizations in marginalized communities in the greater Durban area of South Africa from July 2010 to September 2011.ResultsFindings show that all the supervisors had previous experience working in the health or social services sectors and most started out as unpaid community health workers. Most of the participants were poor women from marginalized communities. Supervisors’ activities include the management and supply of material resources, mentoring and training of community health workers, record keeping and report writing. Supervisors were motivated by intrinsic factors like making a difference and community appreciation and non-monetary incentives such as promotion to supervisory positions; acquisition of management skills; participation in capacity building and the development of programmes; and support for educational advancement like salary, bonuses and medical benefits. Hygiene factors that serve to prevent dissatisfaction are salaries and financial, medical and educational benefits attached to the supervisory position. Demotivating factors identified are patients’ non-adherence to health advice and alienation from decision-making. Dissatisfiers include working in crime-prevalent communities, remuneration for community health workers (CHWs), problems with material and logistical resources, job insecurity, work-related stressors and navigating the interface between CHWs and management. While participants were dissatisfied with their low remuneration, they were not demotivated but continued to be motivated by intrinsic factors. Our findings suggest that CHWs’ quest for remuneration and a career path continues even after they assume supervisory positions. Supervisors continue to be motivated to work in mid-level positions within the health and social services sectors.ConclusionsGlobal efforts to develop and increase the sustainability of CHW programmes will benefit immensely from insights gained from an exploration of supervisors’ perspectives. Further, national CHW programmes should be conceptualized with the dual purpose of building the capacity of CHWs to strengthen health systems and reducing unemployment especially in marginalized communities with high unemployment and low-skilled labour force.

Immigration and Wage Dynamics: Evidence from the Mexican Peso Crisis

How does the US labor market absorb low-skilled immigration? In the short run, high-immigration locations see their low-skilled labor force increase, native low-skilled wages decrease, and the relative price of rentals increase. Internal relocation dissipates this shock spatially. In the long run, the only lasting consequences are (a) worse labor market conditions for low-skilled natives who entered the labor force in high-immigration years, and (b) lower housing prices in high-immigrant locations, when immigrant workers disproportionately enter the construction sector and lower construction costs. I use a quantitative dynamic spatial equilibrium many-region model to obtain the policy-relevant counterfactuals.