Volume 148 (2009), Number 1-2

• The global crisis, social protection and jobs

  Joseph STIGLITZ

  Policy responses to the global financial meltdown of 2008 and the collapse of aggregate demand have largely been driven by domestic interests. Resurgent protectionism, bank bail-outs and national-level stimulus packages are distorting competition and incentives to the detriment of developing countries, much-needed spending on social protection and, ultimately, rapid global economic recovery. Warning against underestimation of the job-destruction potential of the current crisis, the author argues for a truly global stimulus package, together with a rethink of economic paradigms and regulatory policies, financial assistance to developing countries, a less constraining IMF, and stronger social protection as an automatic stabilizer of economies.

  KEYWORDS: ECONOMIC RECESSION, FINANCIAL MARKET, MONETARY POLICY, SOCIAL PROTECTION, ECONOMIC RECOVERY, UNITED STATES.

• Work more to earn more? The mixed feelings of Europeans

  Lucie DAVOINE and Dominique MÉDA

  Would Europeans prefer to work more or less? How do they rate the importance of work in society? Surveys suggest that they attach great importance to work, yet a proportion of them would like to see work take up less space in their lives. How to explain this paradox? Three hypotheses are examined in the light of the findings of international surveys: lower expectations in regard to work, the gap between those expectations and disappointing labour market experience and, lastly, the wish to devote more time to other activities. The article concludes with some policy suggestions.

  KEYWORDS: WORK, EMPLOYMENT, WORK–LIFE BALANCE, WORKING CONDITIONS, JOB SATISFACTION, WORK ATTITUDE, EU COUNTRIES.

• The “externalization” of labour law

  Antonio OJEDA AVILÉS

  The powerful process of labour law adjustment which, for some three decades, experts have looked upon as one of fragmentation – not to say disintegration – into evermore disconnected subfields is turning into a general trend that looks set to take on a structural dimension. An expansionary drive is indeed taking labour law into alien territories, seemingly jeopardizing its identity and traditional boundaries, albeit with a symbiotic interchange of reciprocal influences. This article analyses six avenues of expansion which have been observed in Europe and in some American and Asian countries.

  KEYWORDS: LABOUR LAW, LABOUR LEGISLATION, COMMUNITY LAW, COMMENT, LAW REFORM, WORKERS’ RIGHTS, LABOUR CONTRACT, ASIA, EU COUNTRIES.

• Towards socially sensitive corporate restructuring? Comparative remarks on collective bargaining developments in Germany, France and Italy

  Guido BONI

  Rapidly changing markets in the context of globalization call for increasingly frequent restructuring to sustain the competitiveness of individual firms. To meet this need while minimizing consequent job loss, the social partners in major European countries have devised a variety of decentralization mechanisms that enhance locallevel flexibility without fundamentally calling into question the traditional national models of collective bargaining. Analysing the use of “opening clauses” in German industry agreements, France’s firm-level “derogation agreements” and mandatory bargaining on “workforce planning”‚ and Italy’s tripartite “territorial agreements”‚ the author concludes with a plea for a supranational framework to support socially sensitive restructuring across Europe.

  KEYWORDS: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, DECENTRALIZATION, TRADE UNION ROLE, WORKERS’ REPRESENTATION, ENTERPRISE RESTRUCTURING, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY.

• Student labour and academic proficiency in international perspective

  David POST and Suet-Ling PONG

  Based on the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, the authors find that negative associations between student employment and academic achievement are stronger in some countries than in others – differences likely to result from country-specific work opportunities and needs. Turning to the 2004 Educational Longitudinal Survey of the United States for causality, they observe a curvilinear association between employment and math proficiency: working up to ten hours per week has a modest positive effect, 10–19 hours has no effect, and 20 hours or more has a substantial negative effect. The possible endogeneity of work-hours is then tested with instrumental variables.

  KEYWORDS: STUDENT WORKER, SCHOOLING, SCHOOL LEAVER, EMPLOYMENT, CHILE, INDONESIA, NETHERLANDS, PHILIPPINES, ROMANIA, SOUTH AFRICA, TAIWAN (CHINA), UNITED STATES.

• Technological change and income distribution in Europe

  Cristiano PERUGINI and Fabrizio POMPEI

  This article provides empirical evidence of the link between technological change and overall income inequality in 14 EU countries. The analysis begins by testing the skill-biased technological change (SBTC) hypothesis in sectors with different levels of technology intensity. After confirming the skill complementarity of technology and the predominantly skill-replacing character of investment, the analysis turns to sectoral changes in skilled-labour demand as a possible determinant of income inequality. It finds a non-linear relationship between SBTC and inequality in five of the eight sectors considered, suggesting an inverted U-shaped pattern that can be explained by stages in labour demand and supply adjustments over time.

  KEYWORDS: TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, LABOUR DEMAND, SKILL, SKILLED WORKER, EU COUNTRIES.

• Notes and debates

  Transnational collective bargaining in Europe: The case for legislative action at EU level, by Edoardo ALES

  Since the second half of the 1990s, cross-sectoral, sectoral and company-level bargaining has developed into a key movement in transnational industrial relations in the European Union. Originally stimulated by EU institutions, these forms of bargaining have since progressed autonomously. At present, it is difficult to say exactly what effect, if any, they can have on individual working conditions. Based on a 2005 report to the European Commission, this paper argues for EU legislative action to create an optional framework for transnational collective bargaining, in the form of a Council regulation to be adopted under the social and economic cohesion chapters of the EU Treaty.

  KEYWORDS: MULTINATIONAL BARGAINING, COMMUNITY LAW, LAW REFORM, EU COUNTRIES.

  A Supreme Court challenge to Argentina’s trade union model, by Adrián GOLDIN

  A November 2008 ruling of the Supreme Court of Argentina has challenged the country’s statutory system of trade union monopoly. That the “most representative” union be granted such exclusive powers and rights as to marginalize others within the same industry was found to be inconsistent both with the principle of “free and democratic trade union organization” enshrined in the Constitution and with the position of the ILO’s supervisory bodies. Recognizing the constitutional status of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Court rejected legislated union unity in favour of unity freely chosen by unionized workers.

  KEYWORDS: FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION, TRADE UNION, JUDICIAL DECISION, SUPREME COURT, ARGENTINA.

  Core labour standards under the Administration of George W. Bush, by Christopher CANDLAND

  Outside of the International Labour Organization, the United States uses two main channels to promote labour standards internationally: bilateral or regional trade agreements and “labour diplomacy”. Examining developments in these areas between 2001 and 2008, the author argues that the Bush Administration weakened the United States’ capacity to uphold internationally recognized core labour standards. Although it concluded an unprecedented number of free trade agreements, their labour clauses are largely devoid of meaningful enforcement mechanisms – suggesting a closer connection with general foreign policy objectives than with concern for workers’ rights. Furthermore, the work of the Federal Advisory Committee on Labor Diplomacy was eventually suspended.

  KEYWORDS: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS, ILO CONVENTION, APPLICATION, WORKERS’ RIGHTS, TRADE UNION RIGHTS, TRADE AGREEMENT, DIPLOMACY, POLITICAL POWER, ROLE OF UNITED STATES, TREND, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, UNITED STATES.

  Labour statistics: The boundaries and diversity of work, by Patrick BOLLÉ

  The 18th International Conference of Labour Statisticians was convened at the end of 2008. Its agenda featured, inter alia, the measurement of working time, child labour, decent work, labour underutilization and volunteer work. Here, the author reports on conceptual and definitional innovations in these areas, especially in regard to the boundaries of the concept of work. One such innovation – particularly useful for the measurement of working time and child labour – is a move to take account of domestic work and volunteer work for households.

  KEYWORDS: LABOUR STATISTICS, DATA COLLECTION, MEASUREMENT, HOURS OF WORK, CHILD LABOUR, DECENT WORK, UNDEREMPLOYMENT, UNPAID WORK.

• Documents and communications

  General Assembly resolution on the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization

  Call for papers with a view to publication of a special issue of the International Labour Review tentatively entitled After the Washington Consensus: What next?

• Book reviews

  Growing unequal? Income distribution and poverty in OECD countries, by OECD. Reviewed by Hedva SARFATI

  La gestion des ressources humaines en France. Histoire critique, by Henri PINAUD. Reviewed by Jacques MONAT

  Libertés et droits fondamentaux des travailleurs en Chine, by Aiqing ZHENG (with prefaces by Mireille Delmas-Marty and Jean-Maurice Verdier). Reviewed by François GAUDU

  The accelerating decline in America’s high-skilled workforce: Implications for immigration policy, by Jacob Funk KIRKEGAARD
  A future of good jobs? America’s challenge in the global economy, edited by Timothy J. BARTIK and Susan N. HOUSEMAN. Reviewed by Hedva SARFATI.