Showing papers on "Job security published in 1987"

Job and non‐job stressors and their moderators

Abstract: Almost 4000 principal wage-earners were surveyed to assess the main and interactive effects of undesirable and desirable life-events, social support, and perceived and objective job security on psychological symptoms. Events and support were measured for both the job and non-job spheres. Three methods of analysis were used. Ordinary regression was used as a preliminary analysis and to provide comparison with the customary approach. A second analysis was based on dichotomizing the continuous symptom variable at a point approximating a ‘case’ vs. non-case distinction. The third analysis used a small panel to control for time 1 symptoms. The different methods produced somewhat different results but, in general, provided support for certain main effects including desirable life-events and job security but little or weak support for the moderating effects of such variables as social support.

Labor History and Labor Economics

Abstract: What would a modern economist want to learn from American labor history? Economists interested in long-term growth and development might want to begin with the material conditions of the laboring classes, the growth of worker real incomes and living standards in relation to general economic progress. This sort of interest would not stop at the consumption of goods as conventionally defined, but would include other components of economic welfare, such as long-term trends in conditions of work: hours, safety, job security, workpace, and perhaps more elusive aspects of “job quality.” For the analytically minded economist of today, however, learning these bare facts would only be the beginning. The modern economist would then want to know something about what kind of market or nonmarket mechanisms generated these results. Have worker preferences changed, for example, regarding the trade-offs among money income, job security, shorter hours, and better working conditions? How has the labor market priced these job attributes at different historical periods? If some improvements in the conditions of workingmen’s lives have been purchased only at an economic cost, what was this cost, and what were the implications for national economic progress?

The labor process as a source of class consciousness: A critical examination

Abstract: Much of the recent literature on the labor process has assumed that work content plays a prominent role in the development of class consciousness. Little systematic attention has been given to this assumption, however. The present study examines the relation between aspects of workers' jobs and their levels of class consciousness, using data recently gathered from a survey of workers in the communications industry. Contrary to the prevailing view, the results indicate that extrinsic job characteristics—e.g., job security, patterns of supervision, and working conditions—have much stronger effects on class consciousness than do intrinsic job characteristics. The implication is that analyses of the labor process may have focused too narrowly upon the work itself, at the expense of other critical aspects of the wage-labor relation. Models of the determination of class consciousness will need to consider the expectations workers bring into their jobs. Managerial violation of the workers' expectations may have more to do with the development of class consciousness than does the content of work alone.

Salaried Professionals and Union Membership: An Australian Perspective

Abstract: Using data from a sample of people who had graduated from the Western Australian Institute of Technology over a seven year period, a logistic regression approach was used to identify those individual and institutional characteristics of salaried professionals that significantly increased the probability of belonging to a union. Individual endowments and characteristics such as sex, marital status and previous unemployment history were shown not to be important determinants of union membership. Several individual characteristics such as level of full-time work experience, and an individual emphasis on job security were identified as important determinants of union membership amongst this group of salaried professionals; however, institutional characteristics such as industry and public versus private sector employment tended to dominate as predictors of union membership.

Women workers in the mondragon system of industrial cooperatives

Abstract: A feminist analysis of the Basque Mondragon system of industrial cooperatives suggests that women fare somewhat better in cooperatives than in private firms in employment, earnings, and job security. Market phenomena and the family as basic economic unit affect women workers negatively, as does increasing professionalism in the technical core of the system. Similarities in gender stratification and segregation in capitalist, socialist, and cooperative workplaces call into question the ability of all three to deal adequately with gender equality. Full workplace democracy may depend on the distribution of goods and services based on need rather than work or the wage, socialization of homework and child care, degendering of technical and scientific knowledge, its dissemination as widely as possible throughout the workplace and the community, and the inclusion of all members of the community in major decisions. The article ends with modest suggestions for alleviating one pervasive problem in large industrial ...

Workers, Managers, and Technological Change

Abstract: Robots, office automation and computer-aided design and manufacturing are among the many new technologies challenging traditional labor-management relations. Labor and management in diverse sectors of the U.S. economy are rethinking and rearranging the relationships which bound them throughout most of the post-World War II era. Along with technological change, the globalization of markets, government deregulation, the conglomeration of businesses, and other factors have affected profitability, job security, skill requirements, and the balance of power between labor and management. These changes have raised divergent issues for labor and management, compelling them to reexamine the issue of workplace control and to establish new arrangements for governing the workplace.

The effects of long-term unemployment on attitudes to employment

Abstract: This paper is concerned with whether long-term unemployment (6-24 months) affects people's attitudes to employment once they have found a new job. One hundred and forty men aged 25-40 were asked whether they felt various aspects of employment (e.g. job security, pay) are more important to them as a result of being unemployed. The effects of mental well-being when unemployed on attitudes to employment are explored. Unemployment is reported to have made most aspects of employment more important to people. Those whose mental health was worst when unemployed report that job security is most important to them.

Learning to manage just-in-time

Abstract: The Japanese-initiated "just in time" system of production has a number of attractions for British managements. However, the implications for employee relations are less well charted and should not be underestimated. In the two companies the authors looked at, they found the introduction of a JIT system impinged not only on job content and flexibility but on supervision, pay and, not least given recent redundancies, on motivation and job security.

The effects of labor regulation upon industrial employment in India

Abstract: This paper reviews the effects of legislation and government institutions upon labor costs and employment in the Indian manufacturing sector. It specifically examines wage determination, industrial relations legislation and current job security laws. Econometric analyses are provided for the determinants of the incidence of industrial disputes and the effects of job security regulation. Although wage intervention is found to be relatively unimportant in the manufacturing sector, it is argued that existing industrial relations legislation and job security laws have a positive effect upon industrial costs.

Japan's Reshaping of American Labor Law

Abstract: This pioneering comparative study of Japanese and American labor law reveals a labor-relations system superficially resembling our own but shaped by an entirely different culture, and with a marked impact on Japan's economic success. Among Gould's findings are that the Japanese have adopted American labor law so as to create a relationship between labor and management that is lasting, harmonious, and productive; their system for dealing with job security and unfair labor practices is less confrontational than ours, their law more neutral - and it is easier in Japan for companies to share strategic information with their employees. Gould makes a number of recommendations for change in US labor law while noting that Japan also has problems and its mechanisms for dealing with conflict share many snags with their American counterparts.

Occupational Differences in the Determination of U.S. Workers’Earnings: Both the Human Capital and the Structured Labor Market Hypotheses Are Useful in Analysis

Abstract: . Using the older men's panel of the National Longitudinal Surveys (n = 5,000), path analysis and occupationally stratified samples, an empirical examination is made of the relative role of the human capital hypothesis and the structured labor market hypothesis in the determination of earnings. Results suggest that both hypotheses are useful in achieving an understanding of the process. There is a primary labor market (jobs with high wages, job security and mobility on promotional ladders) with individual productivity differences largely consequent from human capital differentials (investments in education, training and experience). There is also a secondary labor market (jobs with low wages, high turnover poor working conditions) in which human capital investments are not rewarded, dominated by structural influences (e.g. unionization) that, rather than individual productivity differences, explain the process by which earnings are determined.

Labor-Management Cooperation or Managerial Control?

Abstract: Throughout the twentieth century in the United States, managements have deployed new production technologies in order to maintain enterprise profitability, while workers have attempted to protect their job security. Technological change has not only raised these divergent issues for labor and management, but also compelled them to establish procedures for ensuring that technological change fulfills their interests. Technological change has been accompanied by a continuous struggle over controlling its implementation and outcomes.1

Attitudes of Secondary School Teachers Towards Teaching

Abstract: Summary About 100 Israeli teachers representing a wide range of characteristics in terms of background, subject matter, and types of school responded to the Teacher Study Questionnaire (originally developed in Oregon, USA). It was found that although the teachers represented diverse groups they had remarkably similar views about the nature of the teaching job: teaching should be interesting, challenging, creative, and provide opportunities for personal growth. Important conditions for successful teaching are administrative support, a good salary, job security, and appreciation by students, parents, and colleagues. Teachers in Israel, by and large, find teaching to be interesting and enjoyable. They feel free to do in their classes what they want and most of them say that if they had an opportunity to do it all over again they would still choose teaching as their occupation. In spite of this positive attitude they do have complaints on low salary, lack of administrative support, insufficient personal growt...

Dilemmas of organizing women office workers

Abstract: This article analyzes the conditions that facilitate or hinder office-worker activism. Participant observations in Baltimore Working Women, a local affiliate of 9 to 5, and interviews with 72 members and nonmembers revealed the dilemmas of organizing women office workers. Early joiners recruited themselves and then brought in friends for whom the costs of activism were greater. Job security, supportive bosses, and experience in protesting inequities eased the difficulties associated with activism, and commitment to working women's issues sustained activism. Those who feared reprisals from unsupportive bosses and coworkers but joined for friendship tended not to be active. Nonmembers' loyalty to employer and family demands limited their potential as recruits.

Work Attitudes in an Employee‐owned Company:: Comparing Managers with Non‐managers

Abstract: A study of employee involvement in the management and ownership of NVC Australia Pty Ltd indicated high levels of work satisfaction, job security, decision influence, productivity, communication, commitment and involvement. Although only one organisation has been analysed, it is clear that employee ownership and participation provide interesting alternatives for organisations to face the challenges of the present social and economic situations.

Is Entrepreneurship the Way Ahead for Women

Abstract: In many ways, opportunities for women to reach the upper echelons of business have never seemed so bleak. Unemployment has had an adverse impact upon women and the number of registered unemployed women has doubled in the past five years, growing from 461 000 in 1980 to 928 000 in 1984. Of employed women, 40 per cent are engaged in part-time work, which means in most cases that they have little job security, low wages and poor career prospects. Increasingly, as companies try to cut costs, these women are viewed as a disposable reserve supply.

The development of a Pharmacy Student Work Values Inventory (PSWVI).

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that measures pharmacy student work values. The instrument was included in a questionnaire mailed to 1,820 pharmacy students who had just graduated or were in their last year of pharmacy school from 19 schools of pharmacy nationwide. A total of 738 questionnaires were deemed usable for a usable rate of 41.5 percent. After Varimax factor analysis, eleven reliable factors emerged: Quality Patient Care; Supervision and Company Policy; Work Creativity/Variety; Status; Management/Leadership; Economic Return; Work Schedule; Family Responsibilities; Job Security; Co-worker Relationships; and Policies and Procedures. "Job Security," "Family Responsibilities," and "Patient Care" were rated least and negatively important respectively. There were no differences between BS and PharmD degree aspirants on the eleven factors; however, there were some significant differences between sexes. Women rated "Supervision and Company Policy" and "Quality Patient Care" higher than men. Men did not negatively value "Work Schedule" as much as women did, i.e., women preferred to work traditional, weekday hours.

Reporting to Employees: Identifying the Areas of Interest to Employees

Abstract: This paper identifies the areas of information of interest to employees and the attitudes of accounting executives and employees towards what information was considered to be of interest to employees. Accounting executives felt that employee informational needs were limited to their job security and short-term material benefits from employment. Employees, on the other hand, indicated that their informational needs were far greater and related to their job security, financial matters affecting them, their conditions of employment, and the organizational structure of their employee companies.

International Employment Competition

Abstract: As countries assume more and more the character of regions within one integrated world economy, the conditions and the level of employment in the individual nation-state become increasingly dependent on the country's competitiveness. The wealth of nations becomes a matter of securing for the country—and the population that is confined to the national territory—a favorable position in a worldwide spatial hierarchy of market chances. Therefore the industrialized countries today face a double challenge. The industrialization of formerly backward, labor-abundant regions in the South threatens to displace high-wage Northern labor. This threat can perhaps be kept in check for the time being through an increasing destandardization of industrial production, which, in turn, gives rise to increasing intra-North competition. In this context, which in itself means more displacement and less job security, national employment goals are largely sacrificed to the priority goal of international competitiveness. National e...

Japan's Reshaping of American Labor Law

Abstract: This pioneering comparative study of Japanese and American labor law reveals a labor-relations system superficially resembling our own but shaped by an entirely different culture, and with a marked impact on Japan's economic success. Among Gould's findings are that the Japanese have adopted American labor law so as to create a relationship between labor and management that is lasting, harmonious, and productive; their system for dealing with job security and unfair labor practices is less confrontational than ours, their law more neutral - and it is easier in Japan for companies to share strategic information with their employees. Gould makes a number of recommendations for change in US labor law while noting that Japan also has problems and its mechanisms for dealing with conflict share many snags with their American counterparts.

Labor market adjustments in the Pacific basin

Abstract: 1 Introduction.- I Theoretical Framework: Institutions and the Labor Market.- 2 A Comparison of Labor Market Equilibria Under Different Institutional Organizations.- II Observed Dislocation: International Comparisons.- 3 Wage Flexibility in the United States and Japan.- 4 The Impact of International Trade Shocks on Wage Adjustments in Canada.- 5 Japanese Redundancy: The Impact of Key Labor Market Institutions on the Economic Flexibility of the Japanese Economy.- 6 The Impact of Mexican Migration on the United States and Mexican Economies and Labor Markets.- III Domestic and International Shocks: Effects on Employment and Wages.- 7 Wage and Employment Adjustments and the Efficiency Wage Hypothesis: An Application to the Japanese Manufacturing Sector.- 8 The Collective Impact of Sectoral Shocks on Aggregate Employment Fluctuations.- IV Compensation of Displaced Workers.- 9 Job Security Versus Income Security.- 10 Compensating Displaced Workers-What, How Much, How?.

Computer-Based Automation and Labor Relations in the Construction Equipment Industry

Abstract: In the late 1970s, labor relations in construction equipment manufacturing became increasingly conflict-ridden. Record-length strikes over job security, wage and benefit concessions, and the handling of grievances from 1979 into the early 1980s ended two decades of relative industrial peace in this industry. We focus on this shift in labor relations which occurred as automation, foreign competition, and other factors changed the nature and organization of work in the industry during the years 1960—1984. In doing so, we apply the social contract model as a means of analyzing the changing labor relations in this industry.

The eifects of longterm unemployment on attitudes to employnent

Abstract: SUMMARY This paper is concerned with whether long-term unemployment (6-24 months) affects people's attitudes to employment once they have found a new job. One hundred and forty men aged 25-40 were asked whether they felt various aspects of employment (e.g. job security, pay) are more important to them as a result of being unemployed. The effects of mental well-being wnen unemployed on attitudes to employment are explored. Unemployment is reported to have made most aspects of employment more important to people. Those whose mental health was worst when unemployed report that job security is most important to them.

Job Security Versus Income Security

Abstract: …the effects of unemployment insurance are typically measured by regressing the unemployment rate on some measure of unemployment benefits, together with whatever set of control variables yields a believable coefficient on the variable measuring unemployment benefits. Review of the results of various studies reveals that different sets of control variables yield sometimes markedly disparate estimates of the effect of unemployment insurance. Hence, the results obtained are suspect.