Labor In The Era Of Globalization

Analyzes the causes of the decline in labor's global fortunes from 1975 to the 2000s.

The third quarter of the twentieth century was a golden age for labor in the advanced industrial countries, characterized by rising incomes, relatively egalitarian wage structures, and reasonable levels of job security. The subsequent quarter-century has seen less positive performance along a number of these dimensions. This period has instead been marked by rapid globalization of economic activity that has brought increased insecurity to workers. The contributors to this volume distinguish four explanations for this historic shift. These include 1) rapid development of new technologies; 2) global competition for both business and labor; 3) deregulation of industry with more reliance on markets; and 4) increased immigration of workers, especially unskilled workers, from developing countries. In addition to analyzing the causes of these trends, the contributors also investigate important consequences, ranging from changes in collective bargaining and employment relations to family formation decisions and incarceration policy.

The trade union movement internationally is finding itself peripheralized by a series of mutually-reinforcing processes: the on-going world economic crisis; the uneven transition from an industrial to an information and service capitalism; the aggressive policies of neo-liberalism; the collapse of Communism and Radical Nationalism; the decline of the globalization that undermines the nation-state to which union hopes have long been pinned. The editors argue that this crisis provides an opportunity for labor to recover or reinvent itself.

This book critically examines the responses of the working classes of the world to the challenges posed by the neoliberal restructuring of the global economy. Neoliberal globalisation, the book argues, has created new forms of polarisation in the world. A renewal of working class internationalism must address the situation of both the more privileged segments of the working class and the more impoverished ones. The study identifies new or renewed labour responses among formalised core workers as well as those on the periphery, including street-traders, homeworkers and other 'informal sector' workers. The book contains ten country studies, including India, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. It argues that workers and trade unions, through intensive collaboration with other social forces across the world, can challenge the logic of neoliberal globalization.

Throughout the industrial world, the discipline of labor law has fallen into deep philosophical and policy crisis, at the same time as new theoretical approaches make it a field of considerable intellectual ferment. Modern labor law evolved in a symbiotic relationship with a postwar institutional and policy agenda, the social, economic and political underpinnings of which have gradually eroded in the context of accelerating international economic integration and wage-competition. These essays--which are the product of a transnational comparative dialog among academics and practitioners in labor law and related legal fields, including social security, immigration, trade, and development--identify, analyze, and respond to some of the conceptual and policy challenges posed by globalization.

The effective utilization of available resources is a pivotal factor for production levels in modern business environments. However, when resources are limited or in excess, this effects organizational success, as well as the labor market. The Handbook of Research on Unemployment and Labor Market Sustainability in the Era of Globalization is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly research on the socio-economic dynamics of unemployment and the development of new policies to assist in regulating the global labor market. Highlighting innovative approaches and relevant perspectives, such as outsourcing, trade openness, and employment protection, this publication is ideally designed for policy makers, professionals, practitioners, graduate students, and academics interested in emerging trends for labor market development.

This comprehensive Handbook explores the complex and volatile debate over globalisation and labour standards. It offers key insights into the impact of globalisation on workers, the obligations of corporations and international legal bodies in protecting workers’ rights and maximising the opportunities offered by international trade and investment.

This book explores the impact of neoliberal globalization on labour markets and the state in the developed and developing world. It focuses especially on the United States and the economies of Asia – in particular, India. Liberalized trade and investment are thought by neoliberals to be the best levers for raising labour standards, provided labour market flexibility and capital market restructuring accompany them. Labour market flexibility and capital market restructuring, at a first glance, appear to be complementary and symmetric policies. In practice, however, they might have very asymmetric consequences. This book addresses these issues, and it presents a comprehensive analysis of the key questions such as: How far is globalization a ‘real’ threat to the conventional systems of wage fixation, employment pattern, and basic rights at work in both developed, as well as underdeveloped countries? Are casualization and informalization of the workforce direct outcomes of deregulation? How do labour organizations cope with the volatility of the labour market? Are the existing labour market conditions and forms of labour organizations misfits in the globalized business world? Is it at all feasible to choose a high road that combines some degree of labour market flexibility with better labour standards? This book will be of interest to academics working on International Development, Development Economics, Political Economy, Comparative Labour Studies and Asian Studies.