Work Job Research Articles

Older Worker Identity and Job Performance: The Moderator Role of Subjective Age and Self-Efficacy.

Older Worker Identity consists of the internalization of negative beliefs and attitudes towards aged employees by these same people. This research aims to explore the moderator role both of subjective age and self-efficacy in the relationship between older worker identity and job performance. The study was conducted with a panel design, including a sample of +40 Spanish workers (n = 200), with two waves (4-months interval). The findings supported the moderator role of subjective age in the relationship, while it failed to support the moderator role of self-efficacy. These findings underline that workers who actively manage their subjective age perceptions could age successfully at work. The implications of this study for counseling practices are discussed.

Work-Relatedness.

Work-Relatedness.

Wage Gap and Employment Status in Indian Labour Market: Quantile Based Counterfactual Analysis

This study examines the extent of wage gap between workers in permanent and temporary jobs but in roughly similar occupation types by evaluating the impact of workers’ characteristics and education. The differential effects of the covariates on wage gap at different locations of the wage distribution are estimated by applying quantile regression model. After estimating the differential effects the relevance of glass ceiling or sticky floor hypothesis has been tested with Indian data. The wage gap between temporary and permanent employment is decomposed into endowment effect based on the difference in labour market characteristics and coefficient effect based on the difference in returns for the same characteristics. The study observes that the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers is wider at the upper tail of the distribution not rejecting the glass ceiling hypothesis. The decomposition analysis suggests that the wage gap presents in the Indian labour market primarily because of discrimination measured by the coefficients effects.

The association between occupational standing and sedentary leisure time over consecutive workdays among blue-collar workers in manual jobs.

Blue-collar workers spend much leisure time sedentary, which is associated with numerous health impairments. The extensive sedentary leisure time among blue-collar workers could be caused by fatigue from physically demanding work, like stationary standing. Occupational stationary standing is prevalent in many blue-collar jobs and has been shown to induce fatigue. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between occupational standing and sedentary leisure time over several workdays among blue-collar workers. This study used data from 925 workers from Danish workplaces within cleaning, transportation, manufacturing, construction, road maintenance, garbage disposal, and health service. Eligible workers wore accelerometers for 2-5 consecutive workdays. A linear regression was used to investigate the association between percent of work time spent standing and leisure time spent sedentary. A multilevel growth model was used to assess the association between standing during work and sedentary leisure time over consecutive workdays. We found no association between percent of work hours spent standing and percent of leisure time spent sedentary (coef. = 0.01, p = 0.84). The results showed an increase in the workers' sedentary leisure time over a week (coef. = 0.70, p < 0.01). However, this increase was not associated with consecutive workdays exposed to occupational standing (coef. = 0.02, p = 0.42). In this study, we found no support of a positive association between occupational standing and sedentary leisure time. This lack of association could be attributable to a low variation in sedentary leisure time or the chosen definition and measurement of occupational standing.

Qualification and skill mismatches: Europe in a cross-national perspective

This paper examines patterns in qualification and skill mismatches between countries using data from the CEDEFOP European Skills and Jobs Survey for 28 EU countries. We assess the incidence of both types of mismatches across the EU and document the higher incidence of over instead of under qualification and skilling. The analysis of the determinants of both overqualification and overskilling shows that it is worth exploring qualification and skills mismatches separately, as they are associated with different worker profiles, job characteristics and country aggregate features. Finally, we are able to account for the contribution of aggregate level variables in explaining the incidence of mismatches across the population and countries. They are crucial for the case of overqualification, and as important as individual and job characteristics for overskilling.

Development of Construction Workers Job Stress Scale to Study and the Relationship between Job Stress and Safety Behavior: An Empirical Study in Beijing.

Job stress is considered one of the critical causes of construction workers’ unsafe behaviors. As a mainstay industry in many countries, the construction industry has a considerable number of employees and the research on how job stress affects workers’ unsafe behaviors has important theoretical and practical significance to improve construction safety performance through better job stress management. In this study, the authors thoroughly reviewed the literature and conducted semi-structured interviews to identify the dimensions of job stress, designed the job stress scale and cited the safety behavior measurement scale. After that, a questionnaire survey was developed using the proposed measurement scale and distributed to the construction employees from a project in Beijing. One hundred fifty responses were collected and analyzed using reliability analysis to validate the scale’s internal consistency. Results from factor analysis indicate that the scales of job stress measurement can be grouped into six dimensions. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed scale on construction safety management research, the collected data was used to test the hypothesis that job stress has a negative correlation with safety behavior. Results show that the hypothesis is valid, and there is a negative correlation between job stress and safety behavior. In addition, finer results of the relationship between the six dimensions of job stress and safety behavior can be obtained. In summary, this study developed an improved stress scale for construction workers in China, and the proposed scale was validated by analyzing the data from an empirical study in Beijing.

Social Support as a Factor of Manifestation of Dependence among Labor Immigrants (in Terms of Irkutsk Oblast)

The article is devoted to the problem of labor migration of foreign labor force to the territory of Irkutsk Oblast. Consideration of the problem is sociological in its nature, based on the results of two sociological surveys: polling of labor migrants and expert interviews of specialists in this field of social policy. The problem of labor migration is considered from the point of view of social security of migrants and, as a consequence, of their manifestation of social dependency practices. The article reflects the degree of social support for labor migrants in various spheres of life. It gives examples of manifesting social dependency practices among migrants of different social groups. It presents a social portrait of a nowadays labor migrant on the territory of the region, a list of problems of his life activities, expectations regarding social rights and guarantees. It considers prospects of social protection of labor migrants, including those in the field of labor and employment. It characterizes the problem of quoting jobs for foreign workers on the territory of Irkutsk Oblast, directions and trends in its solution is described. It brings forth offers to improve the social security of labor migrants and to prevent them from having a propensity for social dependency.

Monopsony and the Crowd: Labor for Lemons?

Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) is an online labor market (OLM) where requesters (employers) post tasks (jobs) for workers to do for pay. We evaluate whether requesters on the platform have monopsony power and whether the platform is competitive or not in regards to labor.

Living with uncertain work

AbstractThis article examines the different forms of uncertainty that workers in precarious jobs experience on a day‐to‐day basis. The article highlights the various ways in which uncertainty at work spills over into workers' lives away from the workplace and provides a representative and up‐to‐date comparison of the experiences of workers in permanent, fixed‐term and casual forms of employment. The article achieves its objectives through a mixed‐methods research design comprising an analysis of data from the Understanding Society survey and interviews with workers in the retail, higher education, logistics and social care sectors.

Opportunities for Early Intervention to Avoid Prolonged Work Disability: Introduction to the Special Section

Purpose The articles in this special section examine opportunities for early intervention that is intended to retain the jobs of workers who have medical conditions that could put them at risk of prolonged work disability. Methods The first three articles examine options for analyzing various types of disability claims data for targeting early intervention; the fourth article provides new information from 50 case studies on how employers decide to invest in the retention of individual workers. Results Together, the four articles demonstrate that there may be an opportunity to positively affect longer-term outcomes for workers with medical conditions. This would be accomplished by building and expanding on existing systems in order to efficiently identify, and provide timely support to, workers with medical conditions in a critical period during which the decisions and actions of various stakeholders, including the workers themselves, may have a major influence on these outcomes. Conclusions Forthcoming opportunities to develop, implement, and test evidence-based interventions to promote job retention can provide further insight into the value of the options described in the articles.

A REVIEW ON THE PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION IN SIDE-LINED POPULATIONS; SLUM DWELLERS, SHIFT JOB WORKERS AND OCCUPATIONAL NOISE AFFECTED WORKERS: ATTRIBUTABLE TO LIFESTYLE AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR

Hypertension is a condition that is characterized by the persistent raised blood pressure. It is not seen as a disease rather as a major risk factor that is solely responsible for different types of cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure, ischemic heart disease, and left ventricular hypertrophy. Although this condition cannot be cured, hypertension can be managed and prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle that encompasses factors such as diet, physical exercise, reduced alcohol consumption, moderate sodium and potassium intake, and psychological factors. Apart from these, environmental factor like noise has also proved to be associated with the high blood pressure. Different prevalence studies have been conducted to find out the relationship between high blood pressure and different lifestyle factors. This article aims to review and emphasize the prevalence of high blood pressure in slum dwellers and at-risk workers who are shift job workers and occupational noise affected workers. Different research articles pertaining to different authors and countries have been reviewed to portray the concern of this condition. There is the need for proper recognition to these folks of people who are exposed to the precarious and high-risk style of living in the slum dwellers, shift job workers, and occupational noise affected workers. The distress in the physiological functioning of the body leading to hypertension has been found in the slum dwellers and at-risk workers; shift job workers and occupational noise affected workers that are again attributable to aforementioned lifestyle and environmental factor. The proper management of hypertension is extremely required to safeguard these unacknowledged groups of people.

Occupational accidents and human errors in apartment custodians' work.

According to a survey of the economically active elderly population in South Korea, most of them are employed in the service sector, with many men working as custodians. This study investigates the characteristics of injuries affecting apartment custodians, one of the representative jobs for older male workers, as well as the characteristics of accident causes based on human errors. The study used information processing as a framework to identify the cause of accidents that affected 831 male apartment custodians. This study investigated the characteristics of injured persons and features of accidents. The majority of accidents were caused by human errors, in particular perceptual (45.5%) and action (26.9%) errors. The rate of accidents caused by human errors rose from 85.3% among those aged below 60 to 91.4% among those aged 70 or above. Furthermore, the rate of accidents caused by perceptual errors was higher among those aged 60 or above (45.0%) than those aged below 60 (31.4%). The findings of this study imply that accident prevention measures must be customized to older workers according to the different employment conditions.

Practical approach and outlook regarding animal welfare concerns related to beef feedlot production

The topic of animal welfare resonates strongly with the general public today as interest in the quality of life of food animals continues to grow. New tools to address, prevent, and assess animal welfare on farms will likely incorporate novel approaches due to the direct role and influence that livestock caretakers have on animal welfare. Addressing worker welfare as part of animal welfare is a complex subject area that must incorporate multiple components such as occupational psychology, safety and comfort, training and education, and cultural barriers of a diverse immigrant workforce. Addressing these factors also requires acknowledgement that each is interdependent with one another and with animal welfare. Very little metrics are available to quantify feedlot worker performance, comfort, and job satisfaction; however, the need for a skilled, stable, and satisfied workforce in feedlots is increasing. Veterinarians and stockpeople are regarded as the most influential and critical individuals for animal welfare and productivity. Therefore, a unique opportunity exists for feedlot veterinarians and owners/managers to proactively address the needs of feedlot workers and positively influence the feedlot culture for improved work performance and animal welfare outcomes.

A Study on Factors Influencing the Work Interference with Family and Family Interference with the Work of Selected Cement Industry Workers

Every individual plans his/her schedule for a day based on their work agenda. Things are not the same as they were before twenty five years. Quality of work life is something that each and every individual expects from their work in their life, from small job worker to a chief executive officer of a reputed organization. The benefits of quality of work life initiatives go to both employees and employers. The presence of quality of work life initiatives makes the employees feel safe, relatively well satisfied and provides them the opportunities to grow. Largely, it appears that the main concerns of an effective quality of work life program are improved working conditions mainly from the employee’s perspective and greater organizational effectiveness mainly from the employer’s perspective Considering how important quality of work life is for the employees as well as the employers, an attempt is made to measure the quality of work life measures in a leading and more vital sector in India which contributes significantly to the economical development of the country. Hence, the quality of work life and work life balance of cement industry workers the present study analyses factors influencing the work interference with family and family interference with the work of selected cement industry workers in selected industries.

Introduction

Introduction

Changes of depression and job stress in workers after merger without downsizing

BackgroundSince the 1980s, restructuring, which includes downsizing, closures, mergers, and privatization, has expanded worldwide, and various studies have investigated its effect on health. However, previous studies have mainly focused on restructuring accompanied by massive lay-offs, and the effect of a merger on workers’ health is still controversial. This study aims to investigate changes in worker depression and job stress after a merger without downsizing, which is unusual in Korea.MethodsRepeated surveys were done in April 2014, April 2015, and April 2016 involving the participation of 209 subjects. Participants were divided into two groups, which were comprised of blue-collar workers (104) and white-collar workers (105). Sociodemographic characteristics, including age, education level, job tenure, gender, marital status, smoking status, and alcohol consumption, were measured via a survey. To determine the level of depression, the Korean version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was employed, and to investigate job stress, the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form (KOSS-SF) was used. For statistical analyses, Pearson’s chi-square test, the Student’s t-test, and repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed.ResultsThe results showed that depression (CES-D, F[2, 400] = 0.466, p = 0.628) was changed but without significance and job stress (KOSS-SF, F[1.899, 379.831] = 3.192, p = 0.045) were significantly different. The between-group difference in the CES-D score between the blue- and white-collar workers by survey administration time was not statistically significant (F = 0.316, p = 0.574). The interaction between the survey time and occupational group was also not statistically significant (F = 0.967, p = 0.381). The between-group difference in the KOSS-SF total score was not statistically significant (F = 1.132, p = 0.289), and the interaction between the survey administration time and occupational group was also not significant (F = 0.817, p = 0.437). In the job stress subgroup analyses Job insecurity and Lack of reward showed a significant difference by survey administration time.ConclusionThis study showed that a merger without massive downsizing can cause negative health effects such as an changes in depression and increase in job stress. To improve the health of workers, both the immediate negative effects on health, and the long-term effects or their resolution over time should be considered prior to the merger.

Relative supervisor education and worker well-being

PurposeLess educated supervisors create worker status incongruence, a violation of social norms that signals advancement uncertainty and job ambiguity for workers, and leads to negative behavioral and well-being outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to compare education levels of supervisors with their workers and measure the correlation between relative supervisor education and worker job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachUsing the only wave of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth that identifies education levels of both supervisor and worker, a series of ordered probit estimates describe the relationship between supervisor education levels and subordinate worker well-being. Extensive controls, sub-sample estimates and a control for sorting confirm the estimates.FindingsWorker well-being is negatively correlated with having a less educated supervisor and positively correlated with having a more educated supervisor. This result is robust to a number of alternative specifications. In sub-sample estimates, workers highly placed in an organization’s hierarchy do not exhibit reduced well-being with less educated supervisors.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation is the inability to control for worker fixed effects, which may introduce omitted variable bias into the estimates.Originality/valueThe paper is the first to introduce relative supervisor–worker education level as a determinant of worker well-being.

How activity type, time on the job and noise level on the job affect the hearing of the working population. Using Bayesian networks to predict the development of hypoacusia

In this research we identify the main factors believed to trigger occupational hypoacusia in an effort to increase our knowledge of how this occupational disease occurs and develops. With this goal in mind, we have gathered various demographic/personal, occupational and non-occupational data from a heterogeneous sample of 1418 workers. The data selected include the noise levels to which the individuals in the sample are exposed. This entailed taking measurements at their respective jobs, as well as doing an objective assessment of their hearing ability, which required administering medical hearing tests. Lastly, the workers completed a survey on various habits and other factors deemed to be influential, and on the respondents’ own perception of their hearing.Bayesian networks were used to obtain the conditioned probability of developing hypoacusia based on the data collected from the sample. Specifically, for this study we used the general network created by the relationships between all of the factors associated with developing hypoacusia in order to analyze the influence individually and by grouping three specific variables: activity sector, noise level and time on the job.This work yielded a considerable database that can be used to conduct a multitude of analyses intended to study and predict the hearing acuity of the working population under different scenarios. Specifically, in the case at hand, the Bayesian network obtained indicates that the three factors analyzed influence the hearing of the individuals, though to different extents. The least influential factor involves the sector of activity, followed by the noise level on the job, which varies noticeably in favor of better hearing for workers in jobs whose noise levels are rated as low. Finally, we deemed time on the job (which is also related to age), as the most influential factor as it exhibits the largest differences among its potential states, with workers whose time on the job is rated as low or medium exhibiting the best likelihood of having good hearing.

Migrants’ well-being during the global financial crisis: Economic and social predictors

This paper investigates the economic and social predictors affecting the well-being of temporary migrants before, during and after the financial crisis. Exploiting unique panel data which cover migration spells from Tajikistan to Russia between 2001 and 2011, we find that migrants earn less but stay longer in the destination during the crisis; at the same time, they become more exposed to illegal work relations, harassment and deportation through the Russian authorities. The overall income loss can be attributed to wage cuts and to rising illegal employment that is generally poorly paid. Despite the similarities in the demographics and jobs of migrant workers, we find substantial heterogeneity in how the financial crisis affects their well-being. Migrants who experience wage losses during the crisis rationally stop migrating.

Beyond Victimhood and Beyond Employment? Exploring Avenues for Labour Law to Empower Women Trafficked into the Sex Industry

Abstract This article explores under which circumstances a labour law approach could make a meaningful contribution to combatting human trafficking into the sex industry. In this, I critique the existing criminal law approach to human trafficking and its policies, which focus on trafficked persons as idealised victims in need of protection, rather than on their rights as workers, migrants and women. Furthermore, I also challenge the exclusion of sex workers from arguments for a labour law response to human trafficking, as they maintain the construction of trafficking for sexual exploitation and trafficking for labour exploitation as separate phenomena. Instead, this article advocates an alternative labour law approach to human trafficking, which incorporates wider interdisciplinary issues of gender equality and societal exclusions for women and migrants, and particularly female migrant sex workers, within a labour response. My focus is therefore on exclusions maintained by existing labour legislation, which are based on the standard employment contract and amplified by barriers to labour protections faced by workers in female-dominated service jobs in general and by sex workers in particular. As sex workers’ embodied feminised labour is deemed not to be ‘real work’, they seem to be unworthy of labour protections. My proposed labour response to human trafficking into the sex industry therefore combines some of the strengths of the existing labour rights-focussed anti-trafficking and exploitation discourse with arguments from feminist labour law theory in order to tackle the intersectional dimension of human trafficking into the sex industry.