Low-skilled Workers Research Articles

Assessment of challenges of reverse migration in India in the post-COVID economy

Background: The present study was conducted for assessing the challenges of reverse migration in India in the post-COVID economy. Materials & methods: A total of 50 subjects were enrolled with whom telephonic interviews were carried out. Only those subjects were enrolled which were reverse migrants. These internal migrants belonged to different Indian states who had returned from the destination states. All the workers covered under this study belong to the low-skilled and semi-skilled workers category. A list of contacts of these migrants was prepared with the help of social workers and other researchers working with them. Telephonic interviews, which proved to be the most appropriate method due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, with all the migrants have been written as notes and analyzed. Challenges were assessed using SPSS software. Results:A total of 50 migrant workers were interviewed. Among them, 66 percent were males while the remaining were females. 54 percent of the subjects belong to the age group of less than 40 years of age. Due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, the working class, especially the low-income migrant workers, have been the worst affected.

The employment effects of environmental regulation: Evidence from eleventh five-year plan in China

The balance between environmental pollution control and full employment is of practical significance in developing countries. In this article, by taking Chinese total volume control of SO2 emissions in Eleventh Five-Year Plan as a quasi-natural experiment, we are able to identify the influence of environmental regulation on the labor demand of manufacturing enterprises. The findings show that the labor demand of pollution-intensive enterprises has fallen significantly as a result of environmental regulation, which means that the higher the intensity of environmental control, the less the labor demand. This indicates that China has a long way to go to achieve a win-win of emission reduction and full employment through the total volume control of pollutants. Interestingly, environmental regulation plays a significant negative role in corporate salaries, but a significant positive impact on per capita salaries. This may imply that although environmental regulation crowds out the labor demand to a certain degree, those affected are mainly low-skilled workers. Mechanism analysis reveals that the total volume control of pollutant has both job creation and job destruction effects on enterprises. Job creation is caused by technological innovation. As for job destruction, it comes from the reduction of production scale and the substitution of capital for manpower.

Automation, AI & Work

Abstract We characterize artificial intelligence as “routine-biased technological change on steroids,” adding intelligence to automation tools that substitute for humans in physical tasks and substituting for humans in routine and increasingly nonroutine cognitive tasks. We predict how AI will displace humans from existing tasks while increasing demand for humans in new tasks in both manufacturing and services. We also examine the effects of AI-enabled digital platforms on labor. Our conjecture is that AI will continue, even intensify, automation's adverse effects on labor, including the polarization of employment, stagnant wage growth for middle- and low-skill workers, growing inequality, and a lack of good jobs. Though there likely will be enough jobs to keep pace with the slow growth of the labor supply in the advanced economies, we are skeptical that AI and ongoing automation will support the creation of enough good jobs. We doubt that the anticipated productivity and growth benefits of AI will be widely shared, predicting instead that they will fuel more inequality. Yet we are optimistic that interventions can mitigate or offset AI's adverse effects on labor. Ultimately, how the benefits of intelligent automation tools are realized and shared depends not simply on their technological design but on the design of intelligent policies.

The negative hiring rate premium on stock returns in the Korean stock market

This study examines the effect of labor market friction on asset pricing in the Korean stock market. We find a general negative relation between hiring rates and future stock returns, but this relation almost disappears for firms experiencing financial distress or high labor turnover. In addition, we demonstrate that the negative hiring premium is larger across firms with high-skilled workers than those with low-skilled workers and is more prominent for male than for female hiring rates. Finally, we show that firms belonging to large business groups have larger labor adjustment costs due to their unique recruitment process.

The perceived effectiveness and hidden inequity of postpandemic fiscal stimuli

The world has committed trillions in fiscal expenditures to reboot the economy in the post–COVID-19 era. However, the effectiveness and the equity impacts of current fiscal stimuli are not fully understood. Using an extended adaptive regional input–output model, we assess the short-term impacts (2020 through 2022) of feasible stimuli on the global economy and the labor market. Our findings show that the stimuli pledged by 26 countries, i.e., 2.4 trillion euros in total, are effective in keeping the recession short and shallow by saving 53 million to 57 million jobs (compared to the no-stimulus scenario). However, the stimuli exacerbate income inequity at the global scale if we define “equity” as those who suffer more from the pandemic should receive more assistance. Low-skilled workers in these countries, who suffer more from the pandemic than high-skilled workers, benefit 38 to 41% less from the job-creation effects of the current fiscal stimuli. As an alternative, low-carbon stimuli can achieve a balance between effectiveness and equity at the global level. Low-carbon stimuli save 55 million to 58 million jobs and decrease income inequality by 2 to 3% globally compared to the currently pledged stimuli. Country-level situations are more complicated, as modifying the current stimuli to achieve more “greenness” brings win–win in effectiveness and equity in some countries, while in the others, more greenness and equity are at the expense of less job savings. Our findings underscore the need to consider the overlooked trade-offs between effectiveness, equity, and greenness, both globally and nationally, when designing further postpandemic fiscal stimuli.

Should the government subsidize innovation or automation?

AbstractThis study introduces automation into a Schumpeterian growth model to explore the effects of R&D and automation subsidies. R&D subsidy increases innovation and growth but decreases the share of automated industries and the degree of capital intensity in the aggregate production function. Automation subsidy has the opposite effects on these macroeconomic variables. Calibrating the model to US data, we find that raising R&D subsidy increases the welfare of high-skill workers but decreases the welfare of low-skill workers and capital owners, whereas increasing automation subsidy increases the welfare of high-skill workers and capital owners but decreases the welfare of low-skill workers. Therefore, whether the government should subsidize innovation or automation depends on how it evaluates the welfare gains and losses of different agents in the economy.

Reducing vulnerability to forced labour and trafficking of women migrant workers from South- to West-Asia

ABSTRACT Millions of short-term, low-skilled women migrant workers from South-Asia to West-Asia experience exploitative and unsafe conditions. We review evidence from literature and interview 18 key informants to assess the exploitation migrant women face, and highlight the impacts of past interventions to determine their potential, and realised effectiveness, in reducing forced labour and trafficking. We find that women face varied precarious situations along the migration pathway, including interactions with recruiters in the home country, incurring debt, pre-departure formalities and training, withheld wages and mobility restrictions. We discuss varying degrees of success of mechanisms that aim to reduce vulnerability to forced labour.

Heterogeneous Firms in International Markets and Gender Inequalities: New Evidence from Vietnam

Recent contributions in international economics have highlighted structural differences between firms actively participating in global markets and firms mostly operating in the domestic economy. Using firm-level data from Vietnam, this study found that foreign and domestic firms with global ties – exporters, multinational enterprises (MNEs), and domestic firms belonging to global value chains (GVCs) – play an important role in reducing gendered differences in employment opportunities in the formal sector, in particular for low-skilled women workers. Women workers are more likely than men workers to be employed in low-wage firms, but this gender gap is lower in MNEs, in particular those belonging to GVCs. This study provides evidence of important within-sector heterogeneity not only based on firms’ ownership but also on the intensity of participation in GVCs. HIGHLIGHTS Global economic interactions can shape gender inequalities in the labor markets of developing countries. In Vietnam, firms with complex global networks promote a more gender-balanced development trajectory. Foreign and domestic firms participating in global value chains boost employment opportunities but mostly for low-skilled women. Firms’ participation in international markets has limited effects on the reduction of gender inequality in wages.

When winners win, and losers lose: are altruistic views on immigration always affordable?

AbstractThe existing literature postulates that individual-level attitudes toward immigration are partly determined via the effect of immigration on the labor market. In particular, the labor market competition hypothesis states that natives should oppose immigrants with similar qualifications because they threaten their jobs. Empirical findings, however, partly contradict this expectation. In this paper, we argue that one needs to evaluate immigration attitudes in a broader context since the impact of immigration should be mediated by actual job market competition. In industrialized countries, the arrival of high-skilled immigrants happens against a background in which economic globalization positively affects the demand for high-skilled labor. Thus, the influx of high-skilled immigrants should rarely increase job market competition. The opposite occurs for low-skilled workers, for which labor market insecurity is enhanced by both economic globalization and immigration. We find some support for our argument using micro-level data from 19 European countries.

Inclusive, supportive, and fair workplaces for all: workplace satisfaction of low-skilled migrant workers

An increasing volume of research has examined issues related to working abroad, but studies focusing on low-skilled migrant workers are lagging. Relying on intercultural interaction and social exchange views as overarching frames, we examined determinants of low-skilled immigrant workers’ workplace satisfaction. With a sample of 640 migrant workers from eight countries, we specifically examined and compared the effects of cultural and workplace factors. Results showed that intercultural negativity factors such as intercultural rejection sensitivity and intercultural interaction difficulty reduced the workplace satisfaction of low-skilled migrant workers, while social exchange factors such as supervisory support and distributive justice perception boosted their workplace satisfaction. We further found that workplace factors showed significantly stronger effects than cultural factors on their workplace satisfaction. Finally, we examined interaction effects between cultural and workplace factors, and found that the positive effect of supervisory support was greater for those who perceived more cultural difficulty than for those perceiving less cultural difficulty. Theoretical and practical implications are included.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Mental Health of Manufacturing Workers: The Mediating Role of Overtime Work and the Work Environment.

BackgroundWork-related mental health and psychological injuries are important issues related to people's livelihood and wellbeing. Currently, digitalization and intelligent technology have an extremely large impact on the workforce. China is actively promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and manufacturing, which may have important implications for the mental health of manufacturing workers. However, existing researches have paid little attention to the influence of AI on the mental wellbeing of workers in China. There is a lack of relevant empirical research, and the findings in existing studies are inconsistent.MethodsUsing data from the 2018 China Labor Force Dynamics Survey, this paper studies the impact of AI on the depressive symptoms of manufacturing workers and uses stepwise and bootstrapping methods to test whether overtime work and the work environment exhibit mediating effects. Robustness tests were performed by using alternative measures for the dependent and mediating variables. Finally, the heterogeneity in the impact of AI by skill level and generation was examined.ResultsAI can reduce the psychological depression scores of manufacturing workers by 1.643 points, which indicates that AI promotes workers' mental health. Working overtime is not a mediator between AI and mental health. However, the work environment is a mediator between AI and the mental health of manufacturing workers: it explains 11.509% of workers' mental health. The impact of AI on the mental health of manufacturing workers varies by skill level and generation. AI improves the mental health of low-skilled manufacturing workers by 2.342 points and that of manufacturing workers born before the 1980's by 2.070 points.ConclusionsThe application of AI is conducive to improvements in the mental health of manufacturing workers. Improving the work environment is a powerful way to increase the positive effects of AI on workers' mental health. The impact of AI on the mental health of manufacturing workers varies by skill level and generation. The mental health of low-skilled workers and workers born after 1980 is affected more positively by the adoption of AI.

Социальная адаптация представителей прекариальных работ

The uberization of the economy generates the creation of new jobs in which the employee does not require high qualifications. Such work allows more people who do not have special skills and knowledge to find a source of income, however, with this type of relationship, the employer relieves himself of responsibility for the social security of the employee, and also excludes direct communication with him. The employee in this case is not part of the company, but works as a freelancer, doing low-skilled work, which is also characterized as unstable or, in other words, precarious. All this leads to the problem of social adaptation of workers who are forced to take care of themselves in a number of aspects. In the course of this work, the main goal was to identify adaptive practices of precarial workers. A review of the theoretical and empirical research conducted on the topic of precariatization of labor allowed us to identify three main areas in which it makes sense to develop the topic of adaptation of precarious workers: the formation of life strategies that involve future planning, relationships with the employer and collective strategies to protect their interests. In the course of the study of social adaptation, it was found that precarial work is considered mainly as temporary, and getting an education in the future should contribute to avoiding such activities. At this stage of life, courier work is an instrument of adaptation to current difficulties or needs, and due to the fact that this work is an additional, not the main employment, the income received from this activity is not perceived as one that can provide a future independent life. Although the life strategies of free-hire couriers are rather vague, they still exclude unstable work, which means that future social adaptation within the precarious work does not take place.

Minimum wage: problems of inequality and social justice

Work associated with low wages, close to the minimum level, creates prerequisites for inequality and the release of a much larger number of employees from the intra-company labor market than for people with competitive earnings. The position is substantiated, according to which the restraint of wage growth is due to the method of achieving economic efficiency and the lack of social justice based on the use of cheap labor, the weakness of the local labor market and the low level of bargaining power, which is characterized by the effect of snobbery. The authors point out that trade unions, as active participants in the social dialogue, do not exert proper influence on political processes in order to establish optimal and reasonable minimum wage rates. The analysis showed that in extremely uncompetitive labor markets, where there are usually low wages, prerequisites for income inequality are formed and minimum wage legislation could help provide a certain compensatory force in support of unorganized workers, as well as achieving social justice. It is proved that employers do not make decisions about hiring in a vacuum, and institutional and political frameworks can play an important role in influencing the formation of demand for labor. In addition, the national minimum wage has not been sufficiently revised and adjusted in recent years, taking into account economic development, institutional and political factors, and may become a "permanent rate" for many low-paid jobs in the absence of collective bargaining and limit the growth of real earnings. The study shows that the minimum wage has the potential to destroy jobs for low-skilled workers and creates an institutional environment of "winners" and "losers" despite the fact that most of the workforce has access only to poor and low-paid jobs, which are characteristic of the Russian model of the labor market with a high level of employment. It is recommended to create effective jobs in the economy based on the institutionalization of education and the growth of professional and qualification growth.

SERVICES SECTOR IN SARAWAK: CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD

Service sector is an important sector in Sarawak and it contributes about 36 percent to Sarawak’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020. The sector also contributes 56 percent of total employment of the state. However, there are some challenges in service sector. Among the key challenges are low productivity growth, shortage of skilled workforce and weak internet connectivity in rural area that restricted the development of service sector. This paper presents the performance of service sector in Sarawak and the challenges of the service sector. The proposed recommendations to face the challenges include, providing training to semi-skilled and low-skilled workers to improve the productivity, providing quality and cheap food to attract tourists, and developing internet infrastructure in rural Sarawak.

Offshoring within South African manufacturing firms: An analysis of the labour market effects

AbstractSouth Africa's manufacturing sector experiences declining growth and labour demand, and increased imports of intermediate goods. The paper investigates the influence of offshoring on employment and wages for capital‐ and labour‐intensive industries and skilled and unskilled workers, using firm‐ and employer–employee‐level data. Unlike findings in developed countries, offshoring generally lowers employment in manufacturing firms and increases and decreases the percentage of unskilled workers and lower skilled workers, respectively. Increased narrow offshoring seemingly grows the cohort of unskilled workers, particularly in ultra‐labour‐intensive industries. As offshoring gains momentum, worker‐level earnings increase in capital‐ and labour‐intensive industries but decrease in ultra‐labour‐intensive industries.

Does urbanization matter? Diverging attitudes toward migrants and Europe's decision-making

Prevailing attitudes toward migration describe citizens' preferences towards non-native inhabitants and fulfill a key role in socio-economics as antecedents of citizens’ behaviors. According to literature, the fear (or lack of fear) of labor-market competition between natives and migrants may shape attitudes, especially those of low-skilled workers. In this comprehensive framework, we contribute to the literature by looking into a new aspect that shapes attitudes toward migration: urbanization. Employing data from round 1 to round 9 of the European Social Survey covering the time span 2002–2018, this paper analyzes the trend of attitudes toward migration, focusing on the effects of urbanization as a direct determinant of attitudes toward migration as a moderator of education. Urbanization typically affects attitudes toward migrants both directly and indirectly, interacting with individuals' education, which is used to distinguish high-skilled and low-skilled workers. Results support the hypothesis that people living in the rural areas display more negative attitudes toward migration, and this effect is more substantial for low-skilled workers.

Goodwin Model with Clustering Workers' Skills in Indonesian Economic Cycle

The economic model which deals with the economic cycle is Goodwin's Model. It presents the relationship between the employment rate and wage shares. In this study, the modification model was made, taking into three types of workers, namely high, medium, and low-skilled workers. Studies of the model are conducted by determining the equilibrium point and its stability analysis. Furthermore, a numerical simulation is given to see which model satisfies the ideal of Goodwin‘s model cycle prediction by using Indonesian data from 2000 to 2020. In the end, an investigation into the effects of reducing the wage gap between the three types of workers was conducted. The results showed two equilibrium points, namely The Equilibrium Point without Employment Rate and The Wages Share (T1) and the Existence Equilibrium Point of Employment Rate and Wages Share (T2). T1 achieves a stable node condition when ScQd+pi+et while T2 reaches a stable center condition when ScQd+pi+et. The simulation showed Goodwin's model of high- and low-skilled workers produced the ideal of Goodwin model cycle predictions, whereas Goodwin's model of medium-skilled workers and the entire economy (capitalist) didn’t produce the ideal of Goodwin model cycle predictions. Eventually, the effects of reducing the wage gap make the economy unstable.

(Legal) assistance in employment matters to low-paid EU migrant workers in the East of England

AbstractThis paper explores the everyday lives of low-paid, low-skilled EU migrant workers living in and around Great Yarmouth in the East of England both pre- and post-Brexit. It considers the legal problems they face, especially around employment law, and how those problems may be resolved. It draws on the results of quantitative and qualitative research to examine the reach of law into the everyday lives of vulnerable EU migrants. We term our research ‘pragmatic law’ (PL) because our experience is that most legal issues, at least with the groups we are working with, do not enter any formal legal resolution pathway at a community level. They are addressed in the everyday, often by first-tier generalist (and sometimes volunteer) advisers with no formal legal training, who make no express reference to ‘the law’. This access to advice and problem resolution at a street level can be a lifeline to those living at the margins of the workforce.

REFUGEES : A HUMANITARIAN PROGRAM THAT IS BENEFICIAL FOR LONG TERM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Refugees often portrayed in a negative light. However, Refugees are an asset for the host countries, in particular over longer term. This research explores to what extent refugees contribute an economic benefit for the hosts. In particular, this research’s specific research question is as follows: Do refugees harm or benefit host countries’ local jobs? This research uses a method of literature review. This research reviews the literatures to understand the key questions in the comprehension of host country benefits. It argues that refugees contribute an economic benefit for the receiving countries and do not harm the local jobs of the host countries. The findings in the research are as follows: first, the specific benefits refugees offer for the longer-term economic development of the host countries. Second, most of the refugees work in low-skilled jobs and do not harm local people’s jobs. Conversely, refugees can assist low-skilled local workers lift their skills and work into a higher wage and occupation set. Third, politicians together with the media have the most significant role in shaping the public’s perspective towards refugees. Fourth, the proper approach of integration policy leads to empowerment of refugees. Access to employment is the most significant government input to benefit the national economy. Finally, refugees can be an asset rather than a burden in the longer term. This effect is particularly the case in the second and third generations.

Green economy perspectives in Africa: technological and institutional potential

The article analyses the opportunities and forms of the national and regional ecological policy realization in Africa. Different ways of green technologies implementation in the spheres of climate smart agriculture, electricity provision, eco-industrial parks, blue economy projects are considered. Special attention is paid to targeted agroforestry and electricity programs as well as their practical use in African countries, including new farming and renewable energy methods. The ecological crisis overcoming with the help of green technologies development is accompanied by arising financial and social problems, such as aggravation of unemployment situation, depriving low-skilled workers and jobs. Solving the African problems dealing with green technologies introduction for reaching sustainable development is impossible without intensification of regional economic integration and international partnership.