What shapes working conditions? Comparative historical evidence for manufacturing

The past decade has seen much discussion about the scope for national distinctiveness in employment relations in the context of the globalisation of corporations and markets. This paper employs historical data on aspects of working conditions in eleven nations’ manufacturing sectors to comment on the impact of supposedly intensifying global pressures. With no historic convergence of working conditions evident in a statistical analysis, the paper turns to a preliminary econometric analysis to afford some purchase on the conditions which underpin continuing national distinctiveness. The results suggest that cross-national variation in the exposure of employees to managerial prerogative, whilst being far from the only influence, has played a substantial role in the shaping of working conditions

Wage inequality and productivity growth:motivating sticks and crippling carrots

Wage inequality is a particular focus of attention not only in public debates over the need for social regulation to support equity, but those over the implications of social regulation for productive performance. The present paper employs panel techniques to examine the comparative historical relationship between wage inequality and hourly labour productivity growth in the manufacturing sectors of nine advanced industrialised nations over the period 1970-1995. The results show that whilst greater inequality in the top half of the wage distribution is associated with greater productivity growth, greater inequality in the bottom half is associated with lower productivity growth. It appears that whilst wage inequality in the top half of the distribution productively motivates higher earners, wage inequality in the bottom half of the distribution is detrimental for productivity performance. The latter result is most likely attributable to the weak incentives to reorganise production where extremely low pay is feasible

Work humanization : comparative historical developments in the manufacturing sectors of advanced capitalist societies, 1960-1995

The thesis draws on official statistics to examine comparative historical developments in the humanization of work in manufacturing industry, engaging with vital debates on societal distinctiveness. The empirical analysis spans the manufacturing sectors of eleven of the leading industrialised nations over the period 1960-95. This substantive core of the thesis is informed by an examination of research method in the field of employment relations. Initial assessment of the availability and construct validity to aggregate statistical indicators of the humanization of work results in consideration of three phenomena; the rate of incidence of fatal injuries, average annual hours actually worked, and the relative extent of managerial hierarchy. Detailed assessment of the conceptual basis of the available statistics then follows, with the aim of obtaining historically consistent and cross-nationally comparable data on these aspects of work humanization. Although dependable data on fatalities and hours are derived, the limits of the aggregate indicator of managerial hierarchy are ultimately stressed. The comparative historical patterns in the data are then examined for evidence of cross-national convergence in experiences of work humanization. With little indication of any historic convergence apparent the analysis turns to consider the forces which may shape distinctive societal experiences. Quantitative gauges of the shape of the broad political economy are assembled, with a particular attention focused on the quantitative characterisation of the power resources of employees, whether collective or individual. The meaning of these necessarily crude indicators is given extensive consideration. The thesis culminates in separate panel econometric investigations of the political economic characteristics associated with comparative fatal injury incidence and actual annual hours of work. Substantial evidence is presented that the humanization of work is associated with an attenuation of the vulnerability of employees to managerial prerogative

Capital transnacional ¿el fin de los acuerdos sociales nacionales? La evolución reciente en Suecia.

The paper challenges the per vasive view that economic inter nationalisation necessarily undermines national political * Skope, Oxford University, UK. ** School of HRM, Kingston University, UK. Artículo traducido por Beth Gelb. 149 Guy Vernon y Chris Rees Capital transnacional ¿el fin de los acuerdos sociales nacionales?... economies and renders unworkable state action in support of social protection and the social regulation of employment. Whilst it is commonly assumed that globalisation must erase the particularities of the so-called «Swedish model», a careful marshalling of the available evidence finds little support for the hollowing out or erosion of national regimes. On the contrar y, the paper presents a wide range of data (concerning employment, skill formation, earnings and inequality, bargaining activity, and corporate strategy) which shows evidence of continued specificity.Este texto pone en entredicho el punto de vista generalizado de que la internacionalización económica necesariamente socava las políticas económicas nacionales, haciendo inviable la acción estatal en apoyo a la protección social y la reglamentación social del empleo. Aunque sea común suponer que la globalización debe borrar las particularidades del llamado «modelo sueco», cuando se manejan cuidadosamente los datos disponibles se encuentra poca base para pensar que los regímenes nacionales hayan perdido sentido ni se hayan erosionado. Al contrario, la ponencia presenta una amplia gama de información (sobre el empleo, la formación, la remuneración y la desigualdad, la negociación colectiva, y la estrategia empresarial) que demuestra la persistencia de las especificidades

Eastward Expansion of Population from the Pacific Slope

"…The Pacific Coastal region had become the comparatively densely settled metropolis, but the ocean prevented a very large movement westward; so the flow of population turned backward toward the East…

Collaborative systems for enhancing the analysis of social surveys: the grid enabled specialist data environments

This paper describes a group of online services which are designed to support social survey research and the production of statistical results. The 'Grid Enabled Specialist Data Environment' (GESDE) services constitute three related systems which offer facilities to search for, extract and exploit supplementary data and metadata concerned with the measurement and operationalisation of survey variables. The services also offer users the opportunity to deposit and distribute their own supplementary data resources for the benefit of dissemination and replication of the details of their own analysis. The GESDE services focus upon three application areas: specialist data relating to the measurement of occupations; educational qualifications; and ethnicity (including nationality, language, religion, national identity). They identify information resources related to the operationalisation of variables which seek to measure each of these concepts - examples include coding frames, crosswalk and translation files, and standardisation and harmonisation recommendations. These resources constitute important supplementary data which can be usefully exploited in the analysis of survey data. The GESDE services work by collecting together as much of this supplementary data as possible, and making it searchable and retrievable to others. This paper discusses the current features of the GESDE services (which have been designed as part of a wider programme of ‘e-Science’ research in the UK), and considers ongoing challenges in providing effective support for variable-oriented statistical analysis in the social sciences

Progress and prospects for the biological control of invasive alien grasses Poaceae) in South Africa

Historically, invasive alien grasses have not been considered a major threat in South Africa, and as a result, very few resources are allocated to their management. However, there is an increasing awareness of the severe environmental and socio-economic impacts of invasive grasses and the need for appropriate management options for their control. South Africa has a long history of successfully implementing weed biological control (biocontrol) to manage invasive alien plants, however much like the rest of the world, invasive grasses do not feature prominently as targets for biocontrol. The implementation and early indicators of success of the few grass biocontrol programmes globally and the finding that grasses can be suitable targets, suggests that biocontrol could start to play an important role in managing invasive alien grasses in South Africa. In this paper, we evaluated the prospects for implementing novel grass biocontrol projects over the next ten years against 48 grasses that have been determined to represent the highest risk based on their current environmental and economic impacts. The grasses were ranked in order of priority using the Biological Control Target Selection system. Five grasses were prioritised – Arundo donax L., Cortaderia jubata (Lem.) Stapf, Cortaderia selloana (Schult and Schult) Asch. and Graebn., Nassella trichotoma (Hack. ex Arech.), and Glyceria maxima (Hartm.) Holmb., based on attributes that make them suitable biocontrol targets. Arundo donax has already been the target of a biocontrol programme in South Africa. We reviewed the progress made towards the biocontrol of this species and discuss how this programme could be developed going forward. Moreover, we outline how biocontrol could be implemented to manage the remaining four high-priority targets. While biocontrol of grasses is not without its challenges (e.g. unresolved taxonomies, conflicts of interest and a lack of supporting legislation), South Africa has an opportunity to learn from existing global research and begin to invest in biocontrol of high-priority species that are in most need of control

Enabling quantitative data analysis through e-infrastructures

This paper discusses how quantitative data analysis in the social sciences can engage with and exploit an e-Infrastructure. We highlight how a number of activities which are central to quantitative data analysis, referred to as ‘data management’, can benefit from e-infrastructure support. We conclude by discussing how these issues are relevant to the DAMES (Data Management through e-Social Science) research Node, an ongoing project that aims to develop e-Infrastructural resources for quantitative data analysis in the social sciences