Labor Economics Commons^™

Behavioral Economic Factors In Collective Bargaining, Cristal Cardoso Sao Mateus Cardoso Sao Mateus

Masters Theses

The present study evaluated the effects of delay, stake, and hypothetical group size on labor valuation in the context of increasing and decreasing labor demand. Challenges in collective bargaining are associated with work stoppages, which can cause economic losses, lack of service, and worker stress. Participants were asked to value their labor given a set of conditions in two experiments. Participants in experiment 1 (n = 49) valued their labor in both increasing and decreasing demand context. Conversely, participants in experiment 2 (n = 139) valued their labor in only one of the contexts. Delay to changes, stake size, and …

Measurement Of Childhood Poverty In The United States And Its Enduring Influences, Zi Yang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper measures childhood poverty in the United States and classifies it into three degrees based on different durations – persistent poverty, chronic transient poverty, and non-chronic transient poverty – using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data and actual poverty thresholds in the United States. Then I examine the enduring influences of different types of childhood poverty on future performance, including academic achievement, income, and criminal behavior, utilizing OLS and logistic models as well as Mincer wage functions. The regression results show that childhood poverty has a negative impact on schooling years and earnings. Living in poverty increases …

“Men Of Good Timber”: An Archaeological Investigation Of Labor In Michigan’S Upper Peninsula, Aaron Howe

Masters Theses

This study approaches the material assemblage of Coalwood, a cordwood camp that operated from 1900-1912 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with a dialectal method and a theory of internal relations in order to understand how daily life was produced and reproduced. Common sense notions often see home and work as separate entities that only relate to one another externally. My archaeological and historical research abstracts domestic labor as a set of social relations that are dialectically and internally connected to the processes of capital accumulation. My archaeological analysis concludes that both productive and reproductive labor was conducted within the home and …

Neoliberalism, Piven And Cloward's Bargaining Theory, And Wages In The United States, 1965-2006, Thomas W. Volscho

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The political economy of the United States during the last thirty years has been described as neoliberal. Part of the neoliberal turn involves reducing or eliminating income support programs such as AFDC/TANF, waging war against organized labor, and increasingly conservative (i.e., neoliberal) public policies. Following an analysis by Lewis (2001) which showed that wages increased in response to higher average monthly AFDC payments, I update and expand this test of Piven and Cloward's bargaining power theory of wages by looking at other factors which may influence worker bargaining power: unions, interest rates, policy liberalism, and economic growth. I use time-series …

The Family And Medical Leave Act: Effects On Women's Wages And Employment, Andrea E. Miller

Honors Theses

For many years, women's labor force participation and issues of parental leave have been of great importance not only to families and individuals, but also to policy makers, researchers, and employers alike. The Family and Medical Leave Act was the first federal policy enacted in an effort to accommodate medical leave for employees. The Family and Medical Leave Act allowed both men and women to take extended, unpaid leaves due to personal or family medical and health issues. The FMLA establishes a federal, minimum leave threshold in order for employees to take such an extended leave to include the following …

An Analysis Of The Level Of Union Membership In The United States Since The Implementation Of Nafta, David D. Westcot

Dissertations

Union membership in the United States has been in a state of decline over the last two decades and international trade has been cited as one of the reasons. As such, U.S. labor unions perceived the 1994 implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as an assault on organized labor. This perspective is based on the belief U.S. capital and jobs would move jobs south in an effort to take advantage of Mexico's low-wage differentials. With this in mind, the objective of this research was to determine if the percentage of union membership in any of the 22 …

From Plant Closure To Reemployment In The New Economy: Risks To Workers Dislocated From The Declining Garment Manufacturing Industry, Cynthia Rocha

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current study investigates financial and emotional consequences to workers as the U.S. economy continues to shift from a manufacturing to a service economy. One hundred eighty-eight garment workers were surveyed before their plant closed in 1998 and six months later to assess reemployment opportunities, financial difficulty and emotional well-being. All workers experienced some financial difficulty after the plant closed, with single parents reporting the greatest financial difficulty. Workers who became immediately reemployed lost an average of $2.41 in wages per hour. Sixteen percent of the sample lost their health insurance. Overall depression and anxiety scores declined over six months, …

Social Work And Labor: A Look At The North American Agreement On Labor Cooperation, Constance Phelps

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), a side agreement to NAFTA, provides an instructive example of an attempt to link global trade to labor standards. While this side agreement was created in order to bolster the internationalization of trade, it has brought Labor, human rights groups and governments together to scrutinize and challenge the ways that each NAFTA member country ensures the provision of basic health, safety, and human rights on the job. Effective enforcement of the Agreement will come only with political pressure from a wide variety of groups interested in improving quality of life for workers …

Temporary Employment: The Spanish Experience, Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes

Dissertations

In an effort to promote employment flexibility and reduce the unemployment rate, Spanish authorities deregulated temporary employment in the early 1980s. Nonetheless, the deregulation of temporary employment took place at the margin, favoring the development of a dual labor market in which temporary workers constituted a second class of workers involuntarily employed and enduring limited advancement opportunities.

Using data from the Spanish labor force survey, Spanish temporary employment and job transitions into and out of temporary employment are examined. The study first evaluates the incidence of Spanish temporary employment and its involuntary and demand-led character. Secondly, the analysis reveals temporary …

Contested Workplace: The Case Of The Strike Of The United Food And Commercial Workers Union Versus Meijer, Barbara Thomas Coventry, Marietta Morrissey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines the struggle between labor and management at four, newly-opened supermarket/discount stores, culminating in a strike. It considers workplace control as an issue in the strike and its resolution. Edwards' typology of workplace control is reviewed, along with other indirect forms of control explored in recent literature. Workers complained most stridently about direct control mechanisms. Workers' objections to technical and bureaucratic control played only a minor part in workers' decision to strike and the work stoppage's outcome. Indirect controls, including customer and gender-specific control mechanisms, were seldom questioned or acknowledged by workers. On the other hand, both the …

Protecting Women's Jobs: Unions And Deindustrialization, Marietta Morrissey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper explores the impact of union membership on a group of unskilled women workers at a public university in a midwestern city. Although the region has experienced high levels of unemployment in recent years, women subjects have been relatively insulated from job loss. Consistent with other research findings on the consequences of unionization, interviews with 18 women indicate that their job tenure is long, tendency to exit jobs low, and wages and benefits relatively good. African-American and white women have slightly different employment histories, however, reflecting patterns of discrimination and occupational segregation in the work place. Regional economic change …

The Impact Of Work History On Economic Security At Old Age Among Africans In South Africa, Martha Tshitshi S. Mbatha

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Work histories of most Africans in South Africa determine whether or not they will be poor at old age. To illustrate this point, the author uses the literature and data collected from elderly Africans. Findings show racial discrimination in education and in the labor market as resulting in the concentration of the majority of Africans in low paying jobs. Low wages and the absence of a national pension scheme prevent most Africans from saving for their retirement. African workers constitute the largest percentage of the working poor in South Africa. Their circumstances are unlikely to change even after retirement. At …

Perceived Stress, Social Support And Survival: North Carolina Farm Operators And The Farm Crisis, Michael D. Schulman, Paula S. Armstrong

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current farm crisis draws attention to the sources and consequences of the stress process among farm operators. Using panel data from statewide surveys of North Carolina farm operators collected during a period of economic and ecological crisis, the relationships among perceived stress, social support, and survival in agriculture are investigated. Analyses reveal that while the level of perceived stress has no relationship with survival, social support has a significant impact upon both social psychological (plans to remain in farming) and behavioral (continuing as a farm operator) dimensions of survival in agriculture. Perceived social support increased plans to remain in …

Work And Welfare: How Industrialists Shaped Government Social Service During The Progressive Era, Cynthia Hamilton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article focuses on the welfare work of industrialists which was developed as a mechanism for fighting trade unionism during the Progressive era. This focus is designed to place welfare in its proper perspective within the political economy and to identify its political and economic functions. The article concludes that industrial welfare was one of the instruments used in creating a work ethic in the United States and one of the mechanisms of social engineering both in and outside of industry.

The Relationship Between Social Work And Labor Unions: A History Of Strife And Cooperation, Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner, Norma Kolko Phillips

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The historical relationship between social work and organized labor has been an ambivalent one, with fluctuations paralleling historical changes in social and political values. This paper examines the changing nature of the relationship, with emphasis on the period from the 1870s to the 1940s. While today's relationship is a mutually beneficial one, the fragile nature of the link between organized labor and the social work community cannot be ignored, particularly in light of the increasing involvement between social work and private industry

The Immobility Of Low-Paid Workers, Marshall I. Pomer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper extends the labor segmentation perspective on unequal job access. Analyzed here are Census data on the occupational mobility of low-paid workers during the period 1965 to 1970. Upward mobility, defined as movement from a low-paid to a mainstream stratum, is far more common for white men than for women and blacks-even after controlling for differences in age, education, and type of low-paid job. A worker's particular low-paid occupation also strongly affects chances of entering the mainstream stratum. The dominant paradigm for quantitative research on social stratification is questioned, and social policies are suggested.

The "Guestworker" As Metaphor: In Clarification Of Social Economic Contradictions And Systemic Crisis., Stephen I. Woods

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In May 1979 the French National Assembly passed legislation giving the government sweeping powers to expel foreign workers. Yet neither the government nor the employers really want to send most of the immigrant workers home, and thereby lose them as a source of cheap labor for both public and private enterprise. It is likely that the employers hope to use the new legislation to keep foreign workers in a state of permanent insecurity, to discourage them from protesting against their low pay, poor working conditions and the racism they encounter daily. Indeed, employers would like to see foreign workers treated …

Toward A Full Employment Policy: An Overview, Alvin Kogut, Sylvia Aron

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Unlike more advanced welfare states, the U.S. has not committed itself to a full employment policy: the full dimensions of unemployment are not revealed and the "manpower" programs reflect a welfare philosophy. While constraints to such a commitment remain formidable, the developments around Humphrey-Hawkins may be a start.