All work and no pay: consequences of unpaid work experience in the creative industries

This research note evaluates the benefits and pitfalls of unpaid work as an entry route into employment in the creative industries and investigates the consequences of this practice for those who already work in the sector. Based on a qualitative study of perspectives of stakeholders in unpaid work, this article argues that the social capital thesis, often used as a rationale for unpaid work, inadequately explains the practice of unpaid work experience, primarily because it does not take cognisance of the consequences of this practice for other people working in the sector. The study also highlights methodological issues that need to be considered in the future. As well as the importance of a plurality of stakeholder perspectives, the study emphasizes the need to consider the perspectives of those who are excluded from unpaid work and those who are potentially displaced by it

Dualization and subjective employment insecurity: Explaining the subjective employment insecurity divide between permanent and temporary workers across 23 European countries

Dualization theory posits that certain institutions cause dualization in the labour market, yet how institutions deepen the subjective insecurity divide between insiders and outsiders has not been examined. This paper examines this question using data from 23 European countries in 2008/9. Results show that the subjective employment insecurity divide between permanent and temporary workers varies significantly across different countries. Corporatist countries, with stronger unions, have larger subjective insecurity divides between permanent and temporary workers. However, this is because permanent workers feel more secure in these countries rather than because temporary workers are more exposed to feelings of insecurity

The structural invisibility of outsiders: the role of migrant labour in the meat-processing industry

This article examines the role of migrant workers in meat-processing factories in the UK. Drawing on materials from mixed methods research in a number of case study towns across Wales, we explore the structural and spatial processes that position migrant workers as outsiders. While state policy and immigration controls are often presented as a way of protecting migrant workers from work-based exploitation and ensuring jobs for British workers, our research highlights that the situation ‘on the ground’ is more complex. We argue that ‘self-exploitation’ among the migrant workforce is linked to the strategies of employers and the organisation of work, and that hyper-flexible work patterns have reinforced the spatial and social invisibilities of migrant workers in this sector. While this creates problems for migrant workers, we conclude that it is beneficial to supermarkets looking to supply consumers with the regular supply of cheap food to which they have become accustomed

Perceptions of employability among London's low-paid: 'self-determination' or ethnicity?

We investigate how ethnicity, gender and other characteristics affect low-paid workers’ perceptions of their employability in London’s labour market, examining ‘self-determination’, ethnic and dual labour market theories. We find that perceptions vary considerably, both between genders and ethnicities and in the extent to which they are ‘justified’ by human capital attributes. Optimism varies between genders and ethnic groups but individuals’ perceptions vary to an even greater extent within genders and ethnic groups. Hence, individual-level ‘self-determination’ explanations of these perceptions appear to have greatest explanatory power though ethnic theories also have utility

Labor Market Segmentation and Efficient Bargaining in a Macroeconomic Model

Claas O. Labor Market Segmentation and Efficient Bargaining in a Macroeconomic Model. Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers. Vol 600. Bielefeld: Center for Mathematical Economics; 2018.This paper studies the implications of a segmented labor market with efficient wage– employment bargaining on the internal labor market and a competitive external labor market on the temporary equilibrium of a closed monetary macroeconomy of the AS– AD type with government activity, fiat money, and expectations. Workers have identical preferences, those on the internal labor market are represented by a labor union. There is no mobility between the labor markets. Union power measured by the share of the production surplus allotted to the union and union density measured by the fraction of workers who are union members impact the functional income distribution, but neither affect the individual employment levels nor the aggregate employment level and the aggregate supply function. The wage on the internal labor market is above the wage on the external labor market if and only if the profit share of total revenue is smaller than under a fully competitive labor market. Unique temporary equilibria exist for all combinations of union power and union density. The paper provides a complete comparative-statics analysis showing in particular a negative price effect of union power and a positive price effect of union density. In general, the effects of union power and union density on any equilibrium value are usually of opposite signs. Single-labor-market models with a fully competitive or a fully unionized labor market are special or limiting cases of the segmented-labor-market model

Job Insecurity: Differential Effects of Subjective and Objective Measures on Life Satisfaction Trajectories of Workers Aged 27–30 in Germany

Job insecurity has become increasingly evident in European countries in recent years. In Germany, legislation has increased insecurity through erosion of the standard employment relationship. Fixed-term contracts are central to definitions of insecurity based on atypical or precarious work but there is still limited understanding of what creates insecurity and how it affects workers. Drawing on Bourdieu’s thesis that “insecurity is everywhere”, the relationships between subjective and objective measures of insecurity are examined for their impact on the 5-year trajectories of life satisfaction of men and women in the age group 27–30. Latent growth curve analysis of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for 2010–2014 highlights the adverse and lasting effects of subjective concerns about job insecurity on life satisfaction trajectories. This association cuts across educational groups, with far reaching implications as subjective concerns about job security permeate young worker’s lives well beyond the objective condition of being employed on a fixed-term contract