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Labour Policy (labour + policy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences41%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting41%

Kinds of Labour Policy

  • new labour policy
    		•

    Selected Abstracts

    Labour Policy and Determinants of Employment and Wages in a Developing Economy with Labour Shortage

    LABOUR, Issue 2 2010
    Ibrahim Mohamed Abdalla
    Using data from a sample of 1,099 workers, this paper investigates the determinants of employment and wages for workers in the United Arab Emirates. The paper further examines the wage distribution and the decomposition of the wage gap between the public and the private sectors. Results of the study are consistent with the dual labour market theory and indicate that the labour market in the United Arab Emirates is segmented based on sectors (public versus private) and types of workers (nationals versus non-nationals). The study concludes with a discussion of the implication of these findings for the effectiveness of labour and economic policy. [source]

    Autonomy and modernisation: the management of change in an English primary care trust

    HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 3 2004
    Ruth McDonald BA MSc PhD
    Abstract Recent New Labour policy for the ,modernisation' of Government places a good deal of emphasis on decentralisation. This emphasis is particularly marked in relation to the organisation of primary care. However, like hospitals and other National Health Service institutions, primary care trusts (PCTs) are subject to a substantial raft of centrally established performance targets and indicators, including those which contribute to the public award of between zero and three performance ,stars'. This raises questions about the extent to which employees can exercise autonomy in the context of rigid top-down directives. This paper presents findings from a study using participant observation and interviews to examine the impact of a training course aimed ostensibly at increasing employee autonomy in an English PCT. The suggestion is that attempts to make employees more autonomous can be seen as a strategy for increasing central control based upon the internalisation by the employees of centrally promulgated values. The attraction of such strategies is that they may be potentially more effective and less costly than alternative strategies of direct control. However, the study suggests that the outcome of attempts by such methods as programmes to increase employee autonomy may be very different from those intended. [source]

    A NEW EPOCH OF INDIVIDUALIZATION?

    PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2007
    PERSONALIZATION' OF PUBLIC SECTOR SERVICES, PROBLEMS WITH THE
    The paper discusses the role of the concept of ,personalization' in New Labour policy on the reform of public sector services. The analysis points to the contradictory ways in which the concept has been used in both policy statements, in the work of various authors, and in the think tank Demos, which has been closely associated with the diffusion of the concept. The correlative uncertainties with respect to implementation are discussed and related to the use of ,epochal' forms of argument in the justification of this latest instalment of public sector reform in the United Kingdom. [source]

    Social workers in multidisciplinary teams: issues and dilemmas for professional practice

    CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2005
    Nick Frost
    ABSTRACT This paper draws on the findings of a project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, examining how child and family multidisciplinary teams learn and work together. It outlines the approach taken by the research team before going on to explore New Labour policy around ,joined-up thinking'. The paper focuses on the role of social workers in the teams and uses qualitative data to explore the experience of social workers in relation to four key issues: models of professional practice, status and power, confidentiality and information sharing, and relations with external agencies. We argue that these are complex and contested issues that are challenging for the workers concerned. We conclude that whilst joined-up working is complex and demanding, social work is well situated to meet the challenge, and that social workers in multidisciplinary teams are committed to making them work. [source]

    New Labour and the enabling state

    HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 6 2000
    Ian Taylor BA (Leics) Msc, PhD (Econ)
    Abstract The notion of the ,enabling state' gained currency in the UK during the 1990s as an alternative to the ,providing' or the welfare state. It reflected the process of contracting out in the NHS and compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in local government during the 1980s, but was also associated with developments during the 1990s in health, social care and education in particular. The creation of an internal market in the NHS and the associated purchaser,provider split appeared to transfer ,ownership' of services increasingly to the providers , hospitals, General Practitioners (GPs) and schools. The mixed economy of care that was stimulated by the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act appeared to offer local authorities the opportunity to enable non state providers to offer care services in the community. The new service charters were part of the enablement process because they offered users more opportunity to influence provision. This article examines how far service providers were enabled and assesses the extent to which new Labour's policies enhance or reject the ,enabling state' in favour of more direct provision. [source]

    Financialisation, Financial Literacy and Asset-Based Welfare

    BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2009
    Alan Finlayson
    This article examines New Labour's policies of asset-based welfare in the broader context of financialisation. It argues that these are indicative of a mode of government concerned to alter individual outlooks and aspirations, and that asset-based welfare, as developed by New Labour, is primarily a strategy for enhancing financial literacy. Exploring and identifying the general contours of New Labour's reform of welfare provision (particularly the rise of conditionality and personalisation), the article presents a case study of the Child Trust Fund, its development and marketing. The article closes with reflections on the fate of such policies after the sub-prime mortgage crisis. [source]

    Ethics and Foreign Policy: the Antinomies of New Labour's ,Third Way' in Sub-Saharan Africa

    POLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2001
    Rita Abrahamsen
    This article explores how New Labour has attempted to implement its ideas about a ,third way' foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa. Through an examination of British foreign policy practices, we explore whether New Labour has succeeded in finding a ,third way' between traditional views of socialism and capitalism in Africa. In particular, the article focuses on New Labour's attempts to build peace, prosperity and democracy on the African continent. We conclude that although New Labour's claims to add an ,ethical dimension' to foreign policy have succeeded in giving Britain a higher profile in the international arena, the implementation of such a policy is intrinsically difficult. These difficulties in turn arise from the antinomies embodied in New Labour's policy, or more specifically from the tension between the liberal internationalism of the third way and traditional concerns for the national interest, as well as the contradictions inherent in a commitment to both political and economic liberalism. [source]

    The Rise and Fall of Euro Preparations: Strategic Networking and the Depoliticisation of Labour's National Changeover Plan

    BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2010
    Scott James
    Although much has been written about Labour's policy towards the European single currency, few studies have explored the Treasury-led process of preparing Britain for changeover. The article attempts to address this by employing a strategic-relational framework to map the contours of the euro preparations network, to identify the key stakeholders and to chart its development between 1998 and 2008. It argues that by establishing an autonomous policy network, the government was able to pursue a highly effective strategy of depoliticisation by separating the logistical preparations for changeover from the political decision over whether to join the euro. The article also demonstrates the value of strategic networking as a flexible mechanism for managing political uncertainty and retaining institutional memory by placing the euro preparations process into hibernation after 2005. [source]

    Les transformations du travail et de l'entreprise : qu'attendre des politiques publiques?1

    CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 2 2009
    Stéphanie Bernstein
    Sommaire : Les politiques publiques du travail ont été conçues pour offrir des mesures de protection aux salariés travaillant à temps plein, pour un seul employeur, sous son contrôle et sur les lieux de l'entreprise. Or, le marché du travail est aujourd'hui composé d'une pluralité de relations d'emploi qui limitent l'efficacité de ces protections. Ce constat soulève la question suivante : que devraient contenir les politiques publiques pour être mieux adaptées au marché du travail? La première partie de cet article examine les voies de renouvellement possible des politiques publiques pour tenir compte des transformations du travail et de l'entreprise. Certaines suggèrent de faire reposer l'octroi de droits et d'avantages sur l'existence d'un travail ou d'une activité professionnelle alors que d'autres les rattachent à l'individu ou au citoyen. Ces propositions ne pourront cependant voir le jour que si elles font l'objet d'une appropriation par les acteurs sociaux et étatiques. Une réflexion sur le contenu des politiques doit ainsi être combinée à l'étude des processus sociaux susceptibles de faire émerger de telles réformes. Cette question est abordée dans la deuxième partie de l'article à partir de trois exemples récents de réformes législatives. Abstract: Public labour policies were developed to ensure the protection of workers who work for one employer on a full-time basis, at the employer's place of work and under his control. However, today's labour market is composed of a multiplicity of employment relations that limit the effectiveness of the protection. This raises the following question: what features should public policies include to better meet the needs of the labour market? The first part of this article examines how public policies could be renewed in order to take work and organizational transformations into account. Some policies suggest that rights and benefits should be granted on the basis of a job or professional activity, whereas others link rights and benefits to the individual or the citizen. However, these proposals will only emerge if they are appropriated by social and governmental stakeholders. A reflection on the content of the policies must therefore be undertaken in combination with a study of the social processes that may influence the emergence of such reforms. This question is examined in the second part of the article through a review of three recent examples of legislative reform initiatives. [source]

    Economic Policy and Women's Informal Work in South Africa

    DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2001
    Imraan Valodia
    This article examines the gender dimensions of the growth in informal and flexible work in South Africa and the government's policy response to this. It outlines the growth in informal and flexible work practices and, as illustrative examples, analyses how trade and industrial policies and labour market policies are impacting on the growth of informal and flexible work. It is argued that the South African government's trade and industrial policies are shifting the economy onto a path of capital intensification. Allied to this, firms are undergoing a process of extensive restructuring. These developments are further promoting the growth of flexibilization and informalization, and thereby disadvantaging women. The article demonstrates that whilst the government offers a vast package of support measures to big business, its policy is largely irrelevant to the survivalist segment of small business, where most women in the informal economy are to be found. The picture for labour policy is more diverse. Aspects of the labour legislation are promoting the growth of a dual labour market, whilst there seems to be some tightening up of practices aimed at bypassing aspects of the protection provided to workers. [source]

    What Brazil learned from labour flexibilization in the 1990s

    INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW, Issue 3 2009
    Marcio POCHMANN
    Abstract. The debt crisis of 1981,83 changed the course that Brazil's social and labour policy had followed from the 1930s to the 1970s. The social and labour protection systems built up over those five decades , in conjunction with urbanization, industrialization and the rise of wage employment , were gradually dismantled. The neo-liberal policies adopted, however, failed to generate sufficient economic growth and brought worsening unemployment and job insecurity instead. Since the end of 2002, Brazil has been turning away from its "neo-liberal society "project. [source]

    Progressive labour policy, ageing Marxism and unrepentant early capitalism in the Chinese industrial revolution

    BUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 2 2001
    Orlan Lee
    The institutional guarantees of modern labour law, that provide the keystone of progressive liberalism, are often only reactionary to the entrenched concepts of socialist law. Adoption of institutions of "workers rights", and employment protection based upon contract, inevitably nullify the ideological promise of the inalienable "right to work". China, among the last bastions of theoretical Marxist socialism, and among the first socialist countries ready to accept that it has been in desperate need of reforming uneconomical state enterprises, seems willing to sacrifice ideological purity for economic development. Yet, if economic turnaround requires enterprise rationalisation in a market economy, it is understandable that Chinese labour requires the same kinds of protection against unbridled capitalism as progressive labour movements elsewhere. Doubtless, for those who have enjoyed no such institutional guarantees in the past, official commitment to improvement of labour conditions is better than no acknowledgment of need for reform of social policy whatever. Yet, the real question for students of social change is "Are these legislated reforms effective policy guides for local administration and the courts?""|Or are they merely regulations for licensing compliance , primarily for foreign invested enterprises?". In brief, "... to what extent are the new ,workers' rights' realistically attainable sources of judicial remedies for individual workers?" [source]