Article 14 of China\u27s New Labor Contract Law: Using Open-Term Contracts to Appropriately Balance Worker Protection and Employer Flexibility

China’s economy rapidly developed as it shifted from a planned economy to a market economy. Cheap labor encouraged foreign companies to conduct business in China, but that business came at the expense of labor protection. Workers who had previously enjoyed lifetime employment suddenly faced rampant layoffs, labor abuse, and unemployment. Despite China’s implementation of the Labor Law in 1994, labor abuse continued, especially by employers refusing to follow written contract requests to define the employment relationship. Many workers were left unprotected. In response to these problems, China passed the Labor Contract Law in 2007 to clarify requirements of employment contracts and to inform both employers and workers of their rights and obligations. The law was intended to promote better employment relationships. Article 14 of the Labor Contract Law worked to accomplish this end by allowing the use of open-term employment contracts. Foreign companies and investors, however, have voiced concern that the Labor Contract Law’s encouragement of open-term contracts will negatively affect their business in China and make it nearly impossible to dismiss workers. Some of these fears have been realized in South Korea under similar employment laws. While open-term contracts will inevitably increase some business costs, the benefits of the new Chinese Labor Contract Law outweigh such costs. Because workers will be more invested in business operations, open-term employment contracts will improve employment relationships and make businesses more profitable. Additionally, in contrast to South Korea’s employment laws, Article 14 of the Labor Contract Law includes sufficient regulations and flexible requirements to prevent open-term employment contracts from becoming a ticket to lifetime employment. Open-term employment contracts can advance China’s economic development

Why the Welfare State Persist: A Comparative Analysis of Varying Welfare States

The welfare state is a component of many government systems in which the government provides social services to the citizens of a state. The welfare state varies from state to state and is dependent upon different factors such as the demand from citizens, the unemployment rate, and the number of retired citizens. I believe that the welfare state has become institutionalized in economies and governments around the world making it impossible for governments to remove the welfare state. In a comparative analysis I will examine the demands for the welfare state in the United States, Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom and the effect it has on society. I will explore the differences in how welfare states were formed, how they compare present day and differences in citizens’ demand. I will shed light on why the welfare state persists and reasons it would be detrimental to end the welfare state. This analysis will demonstrate the effects of the welfare state on society and vice versa for each respective country

Review of \u3cem\u3eWelfare and Employment in a United Europe.\u3c/em\u3e Giuseppe Bertola, Tito Boeri and Giuseppe Nicoleti (Eds.). Review by Martin Evans.

Book review of Giuseppe Bertola, Tito Boeri and Giuseppe Nicoleti (Eds.), Welfare and Employment in a United Europe. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2001. $32.9

Contradiction and Vision in Chinese Society

訳=小嶋祐

Research Brief No. 8 - A Widening Parental Leisure Gap

Who in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom have the least time for lei-sure? Our study finds that the distribution of leisure time today depends not only on gender, as previously found, but also on family and employment status. Since the 1960s, the amount of leisure time available to men and to women has become increasingly similar. However, parents of young children and those employed full-time are having increasingly less time for leisure than non-parents and those who are not employed. These analyses demonstrate the need to qualify accounts of over-work and the double-burden

The Family Gap in Pay: Evidence from Seven Industrialised Countries

In this paper we use microdata on employment and earnings from a variety of industrialised countries to investigate the family gap in pay - the differential in hourly wages between women with children and women without children. We present results from seven countries: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Finland, and Sweden. We find that there is a good deal of variation across our sample countries in the effects of children on women's employment. We also find large differences in the effects of children on women's hourly wages even after controlling for differences between women with children and women without children in characteristics such as age and education. Among the seven countries we study here, the United Kingdom displays the largest wage penalties to children. The family gap in pay is larger in the U.K. than in other countries because of the higher propensity of U.K. mothers to work in low-paid part-time jobs but also because even among full-timers, women with children in the U.K. are lower paid relative to other women than are mothers in other countries. Why does the family gap in pay vary so much across countries? We find that the variation in the family gap in pay across countries is not primarily due to differential selection into employment or to differences in wage structure. We therefore suggest that future research should examine the impact of family policies such as maternity leave and child care on the family gap in pay.Womens earnings, effects of children on incomes

Análisis de la falta de la presencia estatal en el despojo de tierras en el departamento de Córdoba en el periodo comprendido entre 1985 y 1995

Tesis de maestríaEl conflicto interno colombiano, ha generado una serie de interminables consecuencias y males para la población colombiana en general. Más específicamente, las poblaciones rurales son las que han sufrido de cerca y más dolorosamente estas circunstancias. Específicamente, en el Departamento de Córdoba entre los años de 1985 a 1995, se generó como nefasta consecuencia, el despojo de tierras, el cual a la fecha no ha cesado, sino que por el contrario empeora cada vez más. Por lo tanto, existe una problemática que debe ser tratada y que analice porqué el Estado colombiano ha permanecido “ajeno” a dichas situaciones, carente de políticas públicas que mitiguen estas situaciones y que del mismo modo, permitan atender a la población civil vulnerable y afectada por este mal.MaestríaMagister en Ciencia Polític

Review of \u3cem\u3eCultural Awareness in the Human Services: A Multi-Cultural Approach.\u3c/em\u3e James Green. Reviewed by Yuhwa Eva Lu, New York University.

Book review of J. W. Green. (1999). Cultural Awareness in the Human Services: A Multi-Cultural Approach (3rd ed). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. $33.95 papercover

Globalisation and the reform of European social models

This Policy Contribution by André Sapir was presented to the ECOFIN informal meeting in Manchester. See also the Policy Brief based on this paper.