Menial Jobs Research Articles

Great Lockdown vs. Great Recession: Is This Time Different for the Labor Market?

In this paper, we use administrative data covering Mexico's formal labor market to investigate the employment effects of the Great Lockdown (GL). Our results show that the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown caused Mexico's formal sector to contract by 5% by November of 2020. By August, men's jobs started to recover, while women's jobs remain stagnant. We then document heterogeneous effects by age, income, size of the firms, and economic sector activity. The most affected economic agents during the pandemic include the youngest workers (15 to 29-years-old), oldest workers (over 60 years old), low-income earners, small-sized firms (6-50 workers), medium-sized firms (51-250 workers), workers in the construction industry, and the hospitality-focused service sectors. Finally, we test different state-level factors that may explain heterogeneity within Mexico: state-level reopenings and lockdowns, infection risk, and stimulus payments. Our findings suggest more considerable employment losses in states that experienced successive lockdowns.

It's a man's job? An investigation of shifting (masculine) honor expectations for men and women

Research on masculine honor beliefs (MHB) has shown that MHB are associated with more positive perceptions of men who respond aggressively to threats and insults, but more negative perceptions of men who ignore threats and insults. Problematically, all previous theoretical research has assumed these expectations do not apply to women and, as such, no previous research has examined perceptions of women who confront an insulting or threatening individual. Across three studies (total N = 1024) we tested our Shifting Honor Expectations (SHE) hypothesis that women would be held to different expectations than men in response to insults and threats. Potentially surprising given the lack of extant literature on the topic, across three studies our results showed that, similarly to men, as a function of participants' MHB, women are perceived more positively when they respond aggressively to threats and insults. However, unlike men, women were generally not perceived more negatively when they chose not to aggress against an insulting stranger. We contend that better understanding the rewards and expectations associated with men and women engaging in aggressive responses to threats and insults (and how these expectations differ), can help explain extreme forms of violence in society and these implications are discussed.

Labour force participation and job polarization: Evidence from Europe during the Great Recession

We document how differences in labour demand by gender explain the contrasting evolutions of labour force participation between men and women during the Great Recession in Europe. We first highlight that Europe is characterized by high levels of occupational segregation by gender. As a result, the large job losses in middle-paid occupations during the Great Recession affected male workers disproportionally. In contrast, the fact that higher- and lower-paid occupations were less affected was more favourable to women. Using individual panel data, we investigate how the labour force participation and regional mobility of men and women responded to these shocks. We find that the labour force participation of women increased considerably in the regions most affected by the destruction of men's jobs and with relatively higher labour demand in occupations more likely to employ women. Women with higher levels of education were also more likely to move to regions with higher labour demand in these occupations. We find that not considering the mobility of women with higher education levels can bias the estimates of the impact of labour demand shocks on participation. For men, unemployment increased in response to regional declines in male labour demand. However, regional shocks explain none of the decline in male labour force participation.

Position of Dalit Women in Rural India

India is considered to be the land of villages and this indeed is true as sixty-five percent of its population still resides in the villages as was in the report of World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources in the year 2018. Most of its urban population too originated from the rural as they or their ancestors had migrated to the cities, as in 1960 the rural population of India was a whooping eighty-two percent as per the World Bank data. The Indian population is categorized on multiple grounds and these grounds decide the social, economic, and educational status of an individual, hence there is the presence of discrimination in the Indian society in one form or another. Discrimination in multiple forms has been practiced in India since time immemorial, eradication of which was one of the dreams of the constitution framers. Discrimination was done on the basis of caste and gender mainly and affected the financial holdings, education, and employment opportunity of the individual. The educational qualifications and financial well-being were dependent on the individual’s caste and gender. Discrimination on the basis of caste is one of the most practiced forms of discrimination in India. A caste is an age-old form of categorization in a hierarchy, membership into a caste is ascribed by birth and it can not be changed in any way. The Hindu population of India is divided into a five-fold hierarchy system namely, the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas, and the Shudras. The Shudras were considered to be the lowest whereas, the Ati- Shudras were considered to be out-castes i.e. they were outside the caste hierarchy, and hence were considered to be the Untouchables or ‘Dalits’. The caste system not only places individuals one over other in social hierarchy but also dictates the lives of the individuals as it provides for division of labour i.e. it prescribes occupational monopoly to every caste, the lower castes are prescribed to perform menial jobs requiring no expertise; matrimony rules, places of residence i.e. the caste system prescribes that individuals of the same caste should reside together and that such residences were to be located as per the status in the hierarchy and hence is the reason why Dalit localities are located outside the villages and prominent locations being occupied by Brahmins, Kshatriya, and the Vashyas. Educational qualification of the individual hence was dependent on the caste identity of the individual as the lower caste were supposed to be performing menial jobs hence no education was required for them, also they were considered to be untouchables and hence were discriminated in educational institutions as were not allowed to sit with the students from upper castes. Being deprived of education led to the economic exploitation of the lower castes. Hence, this age-old practice led to social, political and economic exploitation of the Shudras and the Ati-Shudras. Quota legislation in India entitles the scheduled castes to places in educational institutions, government employment, and legislatures. While these quotas were hailed as a major breakthrough in affirmative action, whether they have actually improved socio-economic conditions of the disadvantaged groups is one of the most debated topics in contemporary times. Gender is yet another ground for discrimination in Indian society. The Indian society is of patriarchal nature and hence the role and right of women is limited primarily focusing around household and housekeeping. Traditional Indian families rely on women for their housekeeping. Women had no right to get an education or to get jobs outside their homes. Pre-independent Indian society gave no right over immovable property to women. Therefore, women too had been exploited both economically and socially. Though seven decades have passed since India’s independence, incidents of caste and gender-based discrimination are often reported. This matter is to be looked into which deep concerns. Also, a little work had been done of the suffrage of women from the lower castes, as they are discriminated for belonging from lower strata of the society and for being a woman, hence they comprise the lowermost strata of the Indian society.

Vulnerability and Responses of Farm Households to Socio-economic Shocks: Evidence from Tarkwa-Nsueam Municipality of Ghana

Farmer households in Sub-Saharan Africa face severity of exposure to socio-economic shocks, which partly explain the gap in the level of development among countries in this region. These socio-economic shocks are the events that are capable of reducing group or individual's well-being, such as illness, unemployment, or drought, which may cause or compound poverty. Studies on sustainable livelihoods in Ghana and the world at large are mostly characterized by factors that influence poverty and food insecurity. Though there have been many studies on the impacts of socio-economic shocks on rural livelihoods in Ghana, the study adds to the many voices calling for re-look at the policy formulation and management of rural farmer livelihoods in Ghana. Using a total sample of 385 farmers selected from five communities in the Tarkwa-Nsueam municipality through a stratified sampling procedure and both qualitative and quantitative analysis, the findings show that mining activities, poor road conditions, limited access to market information, poor environmental condition, limited access to land, and credit render farmers in the municipality vulnerable. The analysis revealed that the farmers employ individual responses to reduce vulnerability and enhance livelihoods, including artisanal mining (galamsey) activities, trading, borrowing from well to do community members and other menial jobs. Also, the farmers benefit from external intervention from the municipal agriculture development unit, such as education on social issues and training on farming techniques. The study also discovered the absence of agriculture assisted Non-Governmental Organizations in the study community. The study highlights the need for strong policies and more development partners and stakeholder engagements to reduce farmer vulnerability.

Of Basement Kitchens and Filthy Lodges: Spaces in Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss and Hage’s Cockroach

This paper investigates the spaces that immigrants occupy in Kiran Desai’s novel The Inheritance of Loss (2006) and Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach (2008). It explores the representation of menial jobs that immigrants take with low wages in ethnic restaurants; it also highlights how bourgeois compradors exploit immigrants’ vulnerabilities because they are undocumented workers. The paper also tackles the issue of immigration in the context of globalization and neoliberalism. It also aims at examining how each novelist portrays the anguishes of the two protagonists, Biju in Desai’s novel and the unnamed narrator in Hage’s novel, in the underground worlds where immigrants work and live. The paper uses Henri Lefebvre’s book The Production of Space (1974) as a reference point to examine how spaces play prominent roles in both novels. In both novels, immigrants feel alienated in multinational spaces in advanced capitalist societies. As Desai’s Biju and Hage’s unnamed narrator peregrinate around unfamiliar cities, they attempt to gain a sense of place in relation to various other places on a mental map.

Women in artisanal mining: Reflections on the impacts of a ban on operations in Ghana

As is the case in most corners of sub-Saharan Africa, in Ghana, the number of women pursing work in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech mineral extraction and processing – is increasing. Their dependency on incomes from the sector, however, has brought mixed results: while providing economic relief, it has also caused problems for many women. This was on display in 2017 and 2018, when the government banned all ASM activities countrywide, which crippled many women and their families financially. This study surveys some of the socioeconomic impacts this ban had on women's livelihoods. Prior to the enactment of the ban, 46% of unskilled women interviewed reportedly earned in the range of US$22.22 weekly, with the others earning over US$44.44 per week. This is far more than the World Bank poverty threshold of US$1.90/day but during the ban, many of these women were forced to undertake menial jobs, and despite the ban on ASM having been lifted, face uncertain futures due to a lack of finance.

Opinions of Educational Administrators on Glass Ceiling Syndrome Preventing Women from Becoming Senior Managers

The purpose of this study is to reveal the opinions of educational administrators about the factors that arise from the glass ceiling syndrome which prevents women from becoming senior managers in educational organizations. In addition, in this study, suggestions have been developed for women to overcome the obstacles they face in reaching senior management positions. Qualitative method was used in this research. The research was conducted as a descriptive study in the survey model. The participants of the study consisted of educational administrators working in Niğde province. Semi-structured interview technique was used to examine and reveal the views of the participants in depth. Content analysis method was used in the analysis of data. According to the results, all participants think that women face glass ceiling barriers in the promotion of senior managerial positions. Obstacles to the glass ceiling are mostly due to individual factors. Individual factors were followed by organizational and social factors, respectively. Among the individual factors, the most important obstacles are women's negative view of management and their family responsibilities. Women do not aspire to management tasks because they require more workload and responsibility. In addition, male-dominated organizational policies and the sexist approach, which sees management as man's job are barriers for women. It has been suggested that women should be more willing and challenging to overcome the glass ceiling barriers. In addition, suggestions were made for senior management positions such as allocating quotas and providing flexible working hours for women.

Ungrateful slaves? An examination of job quality and job satisfaction for male part-time workers in the UK.

Research on part-time work has concentrated over many decades on the experiences of women but male part-time employment is growing in the UK. This article addresses two sizable gaps in knowledge concerning male part-timers: are men's part-time jobs of lower quality than men's full-time jobs? Are male part-timers more or less job-satisfied compared to their full-time peers? A fundamental part of both interrogations is whether men's part-time employment varies by occupational class. The article is motivated by the large body of work on female part-timers. Its theoretical framework is rooted in one of the most controversial discussions in the sociology of women workers: the "grateful slave" debate that emerged in the 1990s when researchers sought to explain why so many women expressed job satisfaction with low-quality part-time jobs. Innovatively, this article draws upon those contentious ideas to provide new insights into male, rather than female, part-time employment. Based upon analysis of a large quantitative data set, the results provide clear evidence of low-quality male part-time employment in the UK, when compared with men's full-time jobs. Men working part-time also express deteriorating satisfaction with jobs overall and in several specific dimensions of their jobs. Male part-timers in lower occupational class positions retain a clear "lead" both in bad job quality and low satisfaction. The article asks whether decreasingly satisfied male part-time workers should be termed "ungrateful slaves?" It unpacks the "grateful slave" metaphor and, after doing so, rejects its value for the ongoing analysis of part-time jobs in the formal labor market.

Labour Force Participation and Job Polarization: Evidence from Europe During the Great Recession

We document how differences in labour demand by gender explain the contrasting evolutions of labour force participation between men and women during the Great Recession in Europe. We first highlight that Europe is characterized by high levels of occupational segregation by gender. As a result, the large job losses in middle-paid occupations during the Great Recession affected male workers disproportionally. In contrast, the fact that higher- and lower-paid occupations were less affected was more favourable to women. Using individual panel data, we investigate how the labour force participation and regional mobility of men and women responded to these shocks. We find that the labour force participation of women increased considerably in the regions most affected by the destruction of men's jobs and with relatively higher labour demand in occupations more likely to employ women. Women with higher levels of education were also more likely to move to regions with higher labour demand in these occupations. We find that not considering the mobility of women with higher education levels can bias the estimates of the impact of labour demand shocks on participation. For men, unemployment increased in response to regional declines in male labour demand. However, regional shocks explain none of the decline in male labour force participation.

Colonized Severing The Cords Of The Colonizer: A Research Of Various Aspects Of Colonization In The Hadassah: One Night With The King

Colonization can be traced clearly in the novel Hadassah: One Night with the King. Esther is the slave girl of the Persian Empire under the reign of King Xerxes, a resident at the citadel of Susa. Having control over 127 provinces from Ethiopia to India, King Xerxes had also made Israel his colony. The Jews in captivity have been assigned menial jobs from standing at the entrance of the court and saluting the visitors to scribe writing. Both men and women have been taken as slaves to work in the royal chambers. Besides this, another group of people called Agagites suppress them. The Jews face double colonization. This paper focuses on how a ‘voice of deliverance’ emerges from the voiceless, oppressed nation. Queen Esther, a colonized woman, rises to the rank of a Queen and saves her people from getting wiped out entirely. The Jews continuously were colonized by super powers. Finally, they broke the bondages of the lurking dangers by being led by Queen Esther.

Sustainable development goals in mining

In 2015, the United Nation (UN) launched 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as part of an Agenda to be achieved by 2030. The target is having a global plan of action, aiming at universal peace and social and environmental justice. For this, 169 goals were drawn. The objective of this research is to discuss the congruence between mining activity and the SDG, starting from experiences of the scientific literature and the observation of one mining activity. For this purpose, the Web of Science and Scopus databases were used, with the keywords "sustainable development goals" and "mining". The Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) Portal was used to search papers that relate each one of the SDG to mining. Visits were made to three crushed stone mining industries, located in Monsenhor Gil, Piauí, Brazil, in order to follow the production process of the diabase mineral. From the research in the literature, it was possible to verify that there are several possibilities of reaching the 17 SDG in the mining sector, such as in the promotion of jobs (SDG 8), contributing to the reduction of poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2), among others. From the visits, it was observed that the compliance with SDG related to the promotion of jobs, the improvement of income for community's residents, and the infrastructure of the environment are common to all mining or business activities that reach remote and poor areas. This is clear when identifying mining regions that have lost their economic importance once the local development ceases. If the visited industries left the place, it would cause great loss to the residents that depend on them for their jobs. There is a small number of women on the staff, setting up disrespect for SDG 5 regarding the achievement of gender equality. The nature of the activity itself does not justify the asymmetry that possibly happened under the influence of a sexist culture that imposes what is a man's job or a woman's job. Another point is the lack of investment in inclusive education for employees and for residents of the region. In addition, these industries do not recover the degraded areas, compromising the achievement of SDG 13, in regard to combat climate change and its impacts.

Gender Differences in the Influence of Mental Health on Job Retention

AbstractWe measure gender differences in the causal impact of the 2006 self‐assessed mental health status (anxiety disorders and depressive episodes) on job retention in 2010. We use data from the French Health and Professional Career Path survey. To control for endogeneity biases, we use bivariate probit models to simultaneously explain employment status and mental health. Anxiety disorders reduce men's job retention capacity by up to 12 percentage points (pp). Depressive episodes affect both genders almost equally (around 11 pp). More severe cases of both mental health conditions are relevant in determining the capacity of individuals to remain in employment.

The courage to leave.

“I walked out of my first Ph.D. project!” I exclaimed. I was just a few months into a new job as manager of a graduate school, sitting in my first doctoral student recruitment board meeting. The faculty members and I were discussing the candidates we had interviewed. One hadn't hidden the fact that she wished to leave her current Ph.D. position to join our program, and some of the faculty members worried this might be a bad sign, indicating a lack of commitment. I argued that such a decision is not taken lightly and, depending on the circumstances, can indicate strength of character rather than failure. I hadn't planned to bring up my personal experience, but it felt like the right time. ![Figure][1] ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER > “Who would ever take me on as a doctoral student after I had walked out like that?” Twenty years earlier, I had enthusiastically embarked on my own Ph.D. journey in the lab of a well-known professor. But the lab culture was bad from the start. The default mode seemed to be blaming the new guy for whatever went wrong. I was shouted at for breaking a piece of equipment I had never used—and several other times for no valid reason. I tried to focus on my work. For 3 months, every morning I built myself up with all the motivation I could muster, only to return home each night deflated and drained. I wondered whether I just needed to toughen up. Working at the leading edge of science was sure to be demanding, after all. Friends and family members in whom I confided suggested, all with good intentions, that the challenges I was experiencing might be part of a normal transition from the relatively structured life of an undergraduate student toward academic independence. It was hard to recognize what now appears obvious: The conditions in the lab were unacceptable. One evening, on the way home after another shouting incident, what I thought was an itch on my cheek turned out to be tears streaming down my face. I knew then that enough was enough. After a sleepless night and against the “better” judgment of others, I announced my immediate departure. As I left, I thanked a colleague for his support. “That is brave,” he said. A few months later, I learned he too had resigned. I also discovered that my predecessor as a Ph.D. student in the lab had left after 1 year due to burnout. I worked menial jobs to make ends meet, not sure of the way forward. I was still interested in pursuing research, but my enthusiasm had taken a major hit and I felt like damaged goods. Who would ever take me on as a doctoral student after I had walked out like that? An application to work in another lab proved unsuccessful, though I can't say whether this was because of my tarnished record or because my heart was not quite in it anymore. I was lucky. My former master's degree supervisor came to my aid and arranged a short stint for me to work as a research assistant in a collaborator's lab. I embraced the opportunity to discover a new country and found a team of jovial colleagues with an enthusiastic group leader who helped me regain my passion for research. In the meantime, my master's supervisor was granted funding for a Ph.D. student and offered me the position. I had been given a second chance. I went on to obtain my Ph.D., complete a postdoc, work as a lecturer, and run my own lab before moving to my current position. At the recruitment meeting, someone mentioned that a former principal investigator from our candidate's current department had recently taken a position at a nearby research institute. By coincidence, I had met him just a few days earlier. The board agreed that I should get in touch with him to ask whether a student might have a legitimate reason to leave that department. His answer: “I consider that very likely.” Walking out of my first Ph.D. project was the most difficult and most important decision of my professional life. Young academics making such a tough call ought to be recognized for their resolve more often than I fear they are. I am glad that our recruitment board did. [1]: pending:yes

Domestic Violence Against Rural Women in Colombia: The Role of Labor Income

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the effect of women’s earnings on domestic violence in rural Colombia during the period 2009–2013. To this end, it builds an indicator of domestic violence against women at the municipal level, based on the number of visits of women who attended health facilities where a report on suspected domestic violence was issued by their physician, which overcomes the bias introduced by self-reporting victims. Results indicate that greater income generation by women in rural areas in most economic activities (coffee, fruits, commerce, and industry) decreases domestic violence, while in services, the opposite occurs. The latter could be the result of the mainly menial jobs women perform in this sector, which may be undervalued in their homes, thus making them more vulnerable. The study also finds that improvements in the municipality’s economic activity and access to education contribute to the reduction of domestic violence against women.

Experiences of Young People Early in the Transition From Residential Care in Lagos State, Nigeria

This article examines the aftercare experiences of young people who have recently left a residential care institution in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study adopted a phenomenological qualitative research design with 20 care leavers, and data collected were analyzed using Attride-Stirling’s thematic networks analytical tool. The young care leavers’ aftercare experiences were marked by many challenges with employment, finances, living and surviving alone, accommodation, and social integration. These challenges were due to inadequate preparation for independent living, as well as their orphan and care backgrounds. However, care leavers were filled with resilient optimism, in terms of personal and social factors. Personal factors related to hope of a brighter future, persistence, fear of failing, and engagement in menial jobs and savings, while social factors included formal and informal support systems care leavers mobilized for improved transitional outcomes. Recommendations for policy, research, and practice are made in light of these findings.

Higher Education: Too Much of a (Potentially) Good Thing?

Recent decades have seen a dramatic expansion in higher education. Americans are accessing higher education at growing rates, at the undergraduate level and beyond. While this process is widely celebrated, this Article argues that the proliferation of higher education has, also, a dark side. Through a myriad of empirical evidence, we show that American higher education is plagued by an 'arms race'. Individuals acquire more education than is needed for performing their job or for personal growth, in order to gain an edge in a competitive job market. As people gain more education, employers become more selective, further fueling the educational arms-race. The Article argues that this arms-race is both socially wasteful and unjust. It is wasteful because enormous resources are invested by individuals and the public on higher education, without increasing work productivity or contributing to economic growth. It is unjust because it benefits those who can afford to study, while others are either forced to incur huge debt to fund education, or are left with low- paying menial jobs. The article then discusses several legal solutions aimed at mitigating the educational arms-race. The suggestions are designed to target only cases in which the expansion in higher education is indeed inefficient and unjust, rather than to restrict higher education generally. The first suggestion involves “banning the higher education box”, namely considering higher education requirements discriminatory when they are unjustified by a business necessity and cause racial disparity. Second, we offer imposing a “Signaling Fee” on employers upon hiring overeducated workers; and third we propose encouraging practices of lifelong learning and on-the-job-training. Adopting these (and perhaps other) measures is crucial for reversing the educational arms race and safeguarding higher education as the socially beneficial institution it should be.

Diverging by Gender: Syrian Refugees’ Divisions of Labor and Formation of Human Capital in the United States

In this article, I examine how Syrian refugee men and women shifted their household divisions of labor in their initial years of resettlement in the United States. I combine and extend relational approaches from gender theory and economic sociology to examine how men’s and women’s behaviors shifted, the resources engendered by behavioral shifts, and how they interpreted and compensated for new behaviors and resources. I show that shifts in Syrian household divisions of labor occurred at the intersection of inequalities in social policies, labor markets, and households. As a result of limited social assistance, the refugee families needed to earn an income within months of their arrival. The Syrian men entered the labor market, in keeping with a breadwinning expectation for their labor, but could only access menial jobs that limited their time and opportunity to learn English. Women, meanwhile, did not enter the labor market full-time and could attend English classes. By observing this divergence in men’s and women’s language learning, I theorize human capital as a gendered outcome of household divisions of labor.

Women Entrepreneurship in India-Issues and Challenges

Women are now more and more into dual or non-domestic work system. From just being confined to carrying loads they now carry heavy responsibilities and make decisions and strategies in the enterprises they work. From low-paid menial jobs to self-employment and small-scale industries, to unconventional fields and now own enterprises, the home-maker has had a breakthrough. Breaking centuries of tradition, the Indian woman today has not only embraced the complex life in the corporate world but has also begun to make her moves beyond a corporate career into and leadership. Now with more liberal attitudes and policies for women's education and work, more voice and choice, and more access to new avenues of livelihood and empowerment they have to behave as owners of their resources and work with confidence and perseverance rather than subservience. However, even now in India, about 98 per cent of women-owned enterprises are micro-enterprises. In India'stech capital, Bengaluru, only about 66 per cent start-ups are women-owned. Therefore, we need to study the natural, cultural and other barriers to women entrepreneurship in this time of demographic change, digital growth and rapid networking. In this paper, we try to examine the impact of change from ‘women in development ’to ‘women-led development ’on their socio-economic status, as well as the challenges they face. It also discusses alternative strategies for women in the wake of the National Skill Development Policy and National Skill Development Mission.

<em>The Simpsons</em> Do the Nineties

<em>The Simpsons</em> Do the Nineties