Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Labour'

After the 1978 policy of reform and opening up, Chinese economy is transiting from a planned economy to a market one. Meanwhile, its labour force also became more mobile, leading to job turnover and internal migration. In addition, the wage setting became more market-oriented rather than centrally administered. Motivated by these changes in the post-reform Chinese labour market, this thesis empirically investigates job turnover, wage compensation and return migration in China, all of which consider the impact of the household registration system. Chapter two empirically studies job turnover in China. The 1978 policy of reform and opening up brought changes to the Chinese labour market. For example, the number of life-long employment was reducing and meanwhile the scale of the non-public sector was expanding. Therefore, people have more employment choices than before. Using employment histories recorded in the 2008 China General Social Survey, discrete-time survival analysis is used to examine the motivations for job turnover. Respondents registered in urban and rural areas are considered separately in the analysis. However, the results show no significant difference in job turnover between urban and rural registered people. As bonuses, housing subsidies and social insurances are currently common employment benefits in China, chapter three asks whether there is a wage reduction when higher benefits are provided to employees, which can be explained by the compensating wage differentials hypothesis. Using data from the 2009 Rural-Urban Migration in China, both urban employees and migrant workers are included in the sample. A wage equation and three benefit equations are estimated simultaneously. Instrumental variables are selected to correct for the endogeneity problem of benefit variables in the wage equation. The results show that there is no trade-off between wages and benefits, meaning that benefits do not have a compensating effect to wages. The fourth chapter uses Cox survival analysis to study the return migration in China. Previous studies have found that return migration in China is due to the household registration system and the macroeconomic environment both domestically and internationally. However, this chapter argues that return migration is more likely to be associated with employment and household factors. Employing data from the 2009 Rural-Urban Migration in China, chapter four considers the heterogeneity in return migration between the new and old generation migrants, where the former are taken to be born after 1980. The results show that the new generation migrants experience more return migration than their old counterparts. This implies that integrating to cities may be difficult even if the new generation migrants have a stronger desire to stay in cities permanently. The thesis concludes that although the Chinese labour market is becoming more mobile and wage setting is more flexible, people with different registration status are experiencing different outcomes and respond differently to these changes. Therefore, the policy implication of this thesis is that the Chinese society as well as its labour market should transit from a dual track system to an integrated one.

This study reviews the intra ASEAN labour exchanges that have occurred in the past decade, and proposes that these migration flows have affected the labour markets of both the sending and receiving countries. Generally, labour migration in the labour exporting countries was found to have alleviated unemployment, and migrants showed some indication of skill formation; in some cases though, problems of sectoral shortages had occurred. The study goes on to highlight some of these presenting labour market considerations, that result from labour flows. The study of labour importing countries found that foreign workers had become structurally integrated into the hosts’ workforce; through access to this cheap source of labour, domestic wages in hosts’ countries were generally depressed, thereby allowing them to maintain their comparative advantage as cheaper bases of production for longer periods. An exploration on structural change as another aspect of the labour market impact in labour importing countries, also indicated that there was a link between how migrant labour had been used, and the extent that structural change had occurred.

This thesis examines the emergence of the Labour Party in Leeds, from its establishment as the Leeds Labour Representation Committee in 1902 up to the outbreak of the First World War. This will include a description and analysis of the very different political features of the Labour Party in Leeds in the parliamentary and municipal elections in this period. While only able to have elected one member of parliament before 1914, the Labour Party was to obtain a presence on the City Council in 1903 and by 1914 became the second largest party. The success of the Labour Party in municipal politics was due to the willingness of most trade unions in Leeds to join with the Independent Labour Party in giving it political and financial support. This was achieved by the Party's advocacy of municipal government as a vehicle of social reform. In particular, they argued in favour of using the trading profits of municipally owned services for the financing of these reforms. A powerful voice in the Leeds Labour Party was provided by the unions organising municipal workers. As a result, the Labour group was to act as their defenders on the City Council in the face of a hostile Conservative-Liberal majority. However, the Party in Leeds was to establish a broad base of support from the trade union and socialist movements in the city, which enabled it to survive relatively unscathed the defeat of a general strike of municipal workers in 1913 and 1914.

Labour mobility is a means by which to allocate human resources efficiently. The movement of labour into areas or states where it can increase individual worth, benefits the aggregate economy. This thesis is an empirical investigation of five aspects of labour mobility in Britain. A recurring theme of this study is the interaction between unemployment and mobility. We utilise information from the British Labour Force Surveys as the basis for our study. Specifically we examine: 1) The impact of unemployment on the inter-regional mobility of labour. We find that unemployment experience, and not regional differentials, increase the likelihood of migration. Further the regional allocation process functions less effectively at higher levels of aggregate unemployment. 2) The job search behaviour of employed workers. We show how worker satisfaction, as principally captured by length of job tenure, plays the largest role in the decision to seek work. The type of search strategy undertaken is partly dependent on the level of local labour demand. 3) The influence of unemployment benefit on job search effort. We demonstrate how benefit receipients search more extensively than others. Benefit claimants have a higher probability of locating a job offer. 4) Labour market transitions. Utilising a specially constructed dataset, we estimate annual probabilities of movement between employment, unemployment and inactivity. Worker heterogeneity is shown to explain the majority of these transitions, 5) Inter-firm mobility. Job-shopping by workers is an essential pre-requisite for eventual long-term, productive job matches. High levels of unemployment are shown to impede the job-shopping process.

The aim of this thesis is to reconsider the concept of labour in contemporary art. It advances a newly developed theory of the phantasm, where a double force of negation and affirmation mediates production, as an appropriate model for analysis of art in the age of immaterial labour. Specifically this thesis investigates the relationship between artists and their labour, and how artistic labour is phantasmal in that it allows artists to operate in, and make visible, a space between (or in the shadow of) the aspects ofbeingat work and being available-for work. What the phantasm defines is the crucial movement that mediates artistic labour in sense, linking the artist's interior sense or imaginary to its external production in aesthetics. Chapter 1 situates this inquiry in the current era of immaterial labour characterised by an influential body of theory that has arisen around artistic practices since the 1970s (specifically Jacques Ranciere and Giorgio Agamben), which focuses on a shift in production from material goods to human relations and social life. The increasing slippage between the material product of art and the artist's imaginary is then investigated in chapter 2 beginning with Marx's proposition that what makes labour exclusively human is that before it produces anything in reality it is first raised in the imagination. Building on Agamben's reflections on art and work (The Man Without Content) and the phantasm (Stanzas: Word and Phantasm in Western Culture), this thesis then identifies the phantasm as the dominant movement in relating the imaginary of artistic labour to its event of production. Rather than offer a new elaboration on the trajectory and history of art practices following the shift from the factory production line to the network (which emphasises communication, interaction, and creativity), the theory of the phantasm contributes an understanding of how art 'thinks' labour and how artists mediate themselves in labour. Contextualised with reference to performance art, conceptual and post-conceptual art practices, and particularly the artists Tehching Hsieh, Santiago Sierra and Bruce Nauman, chapters 3 and 4 then show how artistic practices operate to open up a space of critique of labour that combines and distributes different senses or suggest another sensory reality of labour. Chapter 3 develops this argument through Ranciere's theory of the distribution of sense in aesthetic practices (Politics of Aesthetics, Dissensus and The Aesthetic Unconscious), and situates artistic labour as a conflict between sensible presentations and our making sense of them. Chapter 4 concludes by bringing the movement of labour in the imaginary (Agamben) together with its distribution in aesthetic practices (Ranciere) to formulate a single model of artistic (phantasmatic) production. In order to face the central position of labour in art practices, what this model contributes is a way to understand and visualise artistic practices not by the products of art, but through the artist's labour as a phantasmatic moment of production, free from the obligation of producing or signifying anything other than itself.

2.1 Innledning  Alle kvinner ønsker seg en ukomplisert fødsel, men komplikasjoner kan oppstå plutselig og uventet. I følge Verdens Helseorganisasjon trenger 15% av de gravide kyndig hjelp under svangerskap eller fødsel. Før fødselen starter er det viktig å vite hvordan fosteret er orientert i forhold til mor. Leiet vurderes som lengdeleie, tverrleie eller skråleie. Posisjonen beskriver hvordan fosteret er orientert fram, bak, til høyre eller venstre inne i livmoren, og presentasjon beskriver den delen av fosteret som er dypest i fødselskanalen. Nakken til fosteret kan være bøyd (flektert) eller strukket (ekstendert). Fødselskanalen hos mennesket har en bøyd og uregelmessig form, og fosteret må derfor rotere for å kunne passere. De fire kardinalbevegelsene hos et foster med bakhodepresentasjon er fleksjon av hodet, rotasjon gjennom kanalen, ekstensjon i utskjæringen og rotasjon i det skuldrene passerer utgangen. Ved slutten av svangerskapet blir livmorhalsen kortere, og under fødselen blir den avflatet før den åpner seg. Fosterets nivå i fødselskanalen relateres vanligvis til prosessus spinosus. Fødselshjelperne bruker tradisjonelt hendene til å vurdere forholdet mellom foster og mor, men studier har vist stor variasjon mellom ulike undersøkere. Galileo Galilei har sagt: «Mål det som er målbart, og prøv å gjøre målbart det som ennå ikke er det.» Hensikten med denne avhandlingen er å vurdere nytten av ultralydmålinger like før fødselen starter. 2.2 Materiale og metode Vi undersøkte to grupper gravide kvinner. Først undersøkte vi 152 kvinner med ett foster i hodeleie, ingen tidligere keisersnitt og vannavgang etter svangerskapsuke 37 (studie 1 og 2). Vi vurderte fosterhodets posisjon og grad av fleksjon i nakken med transabdominal ultralydundersøkelse. Deretter utførte vi en transperineal ultralydundersøkelse og målte avstanden til indre mormunn og lengden av livmorhalsen i sagittalplan. Vi brukte den korteste avstanden fra fosterhodet til perineum i frontalplan som et mål på fosterhodets nivå i fødselskanalen. Andre gruppe bestod av kvinner som kom til fødselsinduksjon (studie 3 og 4). Inklusjonskriterier var ett foster i hodeleie, ingen tidligere keisersnitt og svangerskapslengde over 37 uker. 710 kvinner hadde indusert fødsel i studieperioden, og 275 ble inkludert i undersøkelsen. Fosterhodets posisjon og nivå ble vurdert på samme måte som beskrevet ovenfor. Vi målte livmorhalsens lengde og vinkel ved vaginal undersøkelse. En fødselshjelper som ikke kjente resultatene av ultralydundersøkelsene, utførte Bishop scoringen. 2.3 Studie 1 Occiput posterior posisjon under fødselen er forbundet med økt risiko for stans i fødselsforløpet, operative forløsninger og rifter. Det diskuteres om occiput posterior posisjon ved fødselen skyldes occiput posterior før start av fødselen eller en unormal rotasjon gjennom fødselskanalen. Hensikten med studien var å vurdere nytten av en transabdominal ultralydundersøkelse før start av fødselen hos kvinner med vannavgang etter uke 37. 40 av 152 foster hadde occiput posterior posisjon før fødselen, og hos 34 (85%) av disse roterte hodet til occiput anterior innstilling i løpet av fødselen. Fosterhodets posisjon før fødselen kunne predikere occiput posterior posisjon ved fødselen med sensitivitet 60%; 95% CI 26-88, falsk positiv rate 24%; 95% CI 17-32, positiv prediktiv verdi 15%; 95% CI 6-30, negativ prediktiv verdi 96%; 95% CI 91-99 og likelihood ratio (LR) 2,5. 11 gravide hadde foster med ekstendert nakke før start av fødselen. Av disse fødte sju spontant, tre kvinner med keisersnitt og én ble forløst med vakuum. Det var ingen signifikant sammenheng mellom fosterhodets posisjon eller grad av nakkefleksjon før start av fødselen og utfallet av fødselen. Vi konkluderte med at en transabdominal ultralydundersøkelse hos kvinner med vannavgang har liten nytteverdi. 2.4 Studie 2 Transperineal ultralydundersøkelse er en lite brukt undersøkelsesmetode. Vi brukte utgangen av fødselskanalen som referanselinje for å vurdere fosterhodets nivå. Så vidt vi vet har ikke denne metoden vært evaluert tidligere. Hensikten med studien var å undersøke om resultatene av en transperineal ultralydundersøkelse kan predikere tid fra vannavgang til fødsel, og predikere sannsynligheten for en operativ forløsning. Undersøkelse av livmorhalsens lengde i sagittalplanet var teknisk mislykket hos 16% av kvinnene og var derfor lite hensiktsmessig. Undersøkelse av fosterhodets nivå i frontalplanet var vellykket hos alle. Kvinner med kort avstand (< 45 mm) fra fosterhodet til perineum, hadde signifikant færre keisersnitt, mindre bruk av epiduralanalgesi, kortere tid fra vannavgang til fødsel og kortere tid i aktiv fødsel enn de med lang avstand fra fosterhodet til perineum. Lang avstand predikerte operativ forløsning (keisersnitt eller operativ vaginalforløsning) med sensitivitet på 83%; 95% CI 67-94, falsk positiv rate 59%; 95% CI 49-68, positiv prediktiv verdi 31%; 95% CI 22-41, negativ prediktiv verdi 89%; 95% CI 77-96 og LR 1,4. Ultralydmåling av fosterhodets nivå kan være nyttig for å vurdere om kvinner med vannavgang bør vente på spontan fødsel eller tilbys tidlig induksjon. 2.5 Studie 3 Hensikten med denne studien var å evaluere fosterhodets nivå, målt med ultralyd, som en prediktiv faktor for fødselsforløpet ved induserte fødsler. Vi sammenlignet målingen med paritet, BMI, Bishop score og ultralydundersøkelse av fosterhodets posisjon, livmorhalsens lengde og vinkel. 13% ble forløst med keisersnitt. Paritet var den beste faktoren for å predikere fødselsmåte. Den korteste avstanden fra fosterhodet til perineum predikerte vaginal fødsel med 62%; 95% CI 52-71% (p = 0,03) av arealet under kurven i en ROC (receiver-operating characteristics) kurve. Lengden av livmorhalsen predikerte vaginal fødsel med 61%; 95% CI 51-71% (p = 0,03), vinkelen til livmorhalsen med 63%; 95% CI 52-74% (p = 0,02) og Bishop score med 61%; 95% CI 52-70% (p = 0,03) av arealet under kurven. Best resultat fikk vi for cut-off verdiene: hode-perineum avstand ≤ 40 mm, lengde av livmorhalsen ≤ 25 mm og bakre vinkel av livmorhalsen > 90 grader. De samme faktorene hadde også signifikant betydning for sannsynligheten for å føde innen 24 timer etter induksjon. Fosterhodets posisjon hadde ingen prediktiv verdi for fødselsforløpet. 2.6 Studie 4 Bishop score består av faktorene lengde, åpning, posisjon og konsistens av livmorhalsen, og fosterhodets nivå i fødselskanalen. I denne studien sammenlignet vi enkeltfaktorene i Bishop score med tilsvarende ultralydmålinger, og hvordan man kan kombinere ultralydmålinger og palpasjonsfunn. Vi fant moderat korrelasjon mellom palpasjon og ultralyd til å vurdere lengden av livmorhalsen (r = 0,54), svak korrelasjon i vurdering av fosterhodets nivå i fødselskanalen (r = 0,23) og ingen korrelasjon i vurdering av livmorhalsens vinkel eller posisjon (r = 0,03). Fosterhodets nivå og livmorhalsens lengde og åpning var de tre viktigste faktorene for å predikere fødselsforløpet. I klinisk praksis er det vanlig å kombinere faktorer i et scoringssystem. Bishop score er et subjektivt og komplisert system med score fra 0 til 13, og vi foreslår å bruke et nytt scoringssystem fra 0 til 3 der fosterhodets nivå og livmorhalsens lengde måles med ultralyd og åpningen vurderes med palpasjon. Faktorer kan også kombineres ved hjelp av Bayes teorem. A priori sannsynlighet for vaginal fødsel etter induksjon er 88%. LR for vaginal fødsel var 3,5 hvis avstanden fra fosterhodet til perineum var ≤ 40 mm. A posteriori sannsynlighet for vaginal fødsel blir dermed 96%. Vi anbefaler å evaluere kombinasjon av prediktive faktorer i nye studier. 2.7 Tanker om framtida I moderne medisinske forskning har metananalyser av randomiserte kontrollerte studier størst betydning. Humanistisk vitenskapsteori prioriterer erfaringskunnskap høyere. Erfaringskunnskap har lang tradisjon innenfor faget fødselshjelp, og det er viktig å ta vare på denne tradisjonen. Gammel og ny kunnskap må sammenlignes og evalueres. Pasientverdier har fått større betydning i moderne medisin. Klinikere kan ikke lenger bestemme for pasientene, men heller være rådgivere . God kunnskap er viktig for å kunne informere de fødende om sannsynlig forløp av fødselen. Filosofen William of Ockham (1285-1349) har uttalt: «Bruk alltid den enkleste av likeverdige metoder.» Ressursene i helsevesenet er begrenset, og leger får ofte et etisk dilemma om de skal prioritere den enkelte pasient eller sykehusets økonomi. Det vil derfor bli viktig å finne undersøkelsesmetoder som er enkle å bruke, nyttige for pasientene og som samtidig er kostnadseffektive. Ultralydundersøkelser har en sentral rolle i svangerskapsomsorgen. I denne avhandlingen har vi vurdert nytteverdien av ultralydmålinger like før fødselen starter. De samme undersøkelsesmetoder kan også brukes under fødselen. På dette området er det behov for mer forskning. Redaktøren i Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology har uttalt: «We will move from obstetric ultrasound to ultrasonographic obstetrics.» Kanskje vil ultralydundersøkelser i forbindelse med fødselen bli like viktige som de i dag er i svangerskapsomsorgen.

Throughout its lifetime the Labour Party has experienced ideological divisions resulting in the formation of Left and Right factions. The Labour Left has been the more prominent and persistent of the two factions, intent on defending the Party's socialist principles against the more pragmatic leanings of the Party leadership. During the 1930s and 1950s the Labour Left played a significant, yet increasingly reactive, role within the Party. In the 1970s, however, the Labour Left launched an offensive with a wide-ranging political programme, a set of proposals for an intra-Party transferral of power, and a political leader with exceptional skills. By 1981 this offensive had succeeded in securing the election of a Party Leader whose whole career had been very closely identified with the Labour Left, in achieving a significant shift of power from the parliamentarians to the constituency activists, and in developing a Party programme which incorporated certain major left-wing policies. Success, however, contained the seeds of decline. A split in the parliamentary Party and continual bitter intra-Party factional divisions played a major part in the Party's disastrous electoral performance in the 1983 General Election. The election result gave additional impetus to the Labour Left's fragmentation to the point that it is no longer the cohesive faction it was in previous periods and is now a collection of disparate groups.

In the present study we wish to address four related questions. Firstly we ask what effect sectoral imbalance has had on aggregate unemployment. We examine this question in Chapter 2 using the framework of regional wage determination and evidence from Great Britain over the period 1975-1989. Secondly we ask why such an imbalance should persist over time and why labour does not move to equilibriate its compensating differentials across regions. We attempt to answer this question in Chapters 3 and 4 using a model of migration flows based on the theory of the 'hiring function' and use evidence on bilateral migration flows across the standard regions of Great Britain over 1975-1989. Thirdly we wish to examine whether long-term unemployment distorts the working of the labour market by examining its effects on regional wage determination in Chapter 2 and on migration Chapters 3 and 4. Finally we examine whether certain developed economies have been more successful than others in curbing both excessive unemployment growth and unemployment persistence. In Chapter 5 we attempt to explain such contrasting performance by comparing differences in institutional features and the more pragmatic active labour market intervention in the form of training and other employment related measures initiated by different countries following each of the two oil price shocks. In comparing national labour market performance we use comparable data of the 14 main OECD member countries covering the period from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s.

While there is still no fully acceptable framework for the study of absenteeism it would appear that the foci of economic and psychological research is converging. Traditionally economists have relied on labour - leisure choice theories, consistent with psychology expectancy theories, where employees are assumed to be utility maximisers choosing absence levels which they believe will maximise the gains from work and non - work time. More recently theorists from both disciplines recognise that individual absence decisions are also influenced by work group norms (ie beliefs and attitudes on work attendance) which may favour high or low attendance. In addition, absence may also reflect occupational status, where employees are awarded above market clearing wages with the expectation of good attendance (efficiency wages theory). Economists have tended to use aggregate data (eg economy wide data) in the analysis of labour absence while psychologists tend to rely on micro data sets ( eg. case studies). This analysis uses a micro data set to examine absence within a particular organisation. The basic framework of analysis adopted is the labour - leisure choice model which has been dominant in economic analysis. This model, however, is also consistent with decision making models of psychology theory and can also be placed in a broader context to allow for other absence determinants such as work group norms and altitudes. The model is tested using unit record data for a sample of nurses employed at a large Western Australian public hospital during 1987 /88. Three of the most commonly employed absence measures (absence rate, total absence and frequency of absence) are used in the analysis. As with previous research frequency measures are found to be the most reliable indicators of chosen absence. Economic, demographic and workplace/occupation specific variables are all shown lo affect attendance behaviour. Support for the labour - leisure choice model was found for those nurses who were employed throughout the survey period. Furthermore the results demonstrate the need to control not only for the presence of dependants, but also their ages. The presence of children aged between 5 and 15 years results in significantly less absence, possibly reflecting the financial burden of child rearing and consequent necessity to attend work. Finally, work group norms and attitudes are also believed to influence attendance behaviour.

Since the 1980s the locus of manufacturing and some services have moved to countries of the Global South. Liberalization of trade and investment has added two billion people to world labour supply and brought workers everywhere into intense competition with each other. Under orthodox neoliberal and neoclassical approaches free trade and open investment should benefit all countries and lead to convergence. However considerable differences in wages and working hours exist between workers of the Global North and those of the Global South. The organising question for the thesis is why workers in different countries but the same industries get different wages. Empirical evidence reviewed in the thesis shows that productivity does not explain these wage differences and that workers in some parts of the South are more productive than workers in the North. Part of the thesis examines the usefulness of explanations drawn from Marxist, institutionalist and global commodity chain approaches. There is a long established argument in Marxist and neo-Marxist writings that differences between North and South result from imperialism and the exercise of power. This is the starting point to review ways of understanding divisions between workers as the outcome of a global class structure. In turn, a fault line is postulated between productive and unproductive labour that largely replicates the division between the Global North and the Global South. Workers and their organizations need shared actions if they are to resist global competition and wage disparities. Solidarity has been the clarion of progressive movements from the Internationals of the early C19th through to the current Global Unions and International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICTU). The thesis examines how nationalism and particular interests have undermined solidarity and reviews the major implications for current efforts to establish and advance a global labour position.

Emotional labour was conceptualised by Hochschild in 1983 as a form of oppression on the service worker devised by a capitalist society; where not only were workers’ physical actions managed, but their emotions as well. Research in the area developed this concept identifying the many occupational fields in which emotional labour exists, forming models of its effects, and examining ways in which workers try to resist the emotional strain. Taking a social constructionist approach, 44 service workers and 44 customers/emotional labour recipients were interviewed using the Critical Incident Technique to gain insight into their views of performing and receiving emotional labour, and what they believed enhanced or detracted from it. The results were divided into those discussing “professional” emotional labour jobs (eg. teaching) - where the emotional labourer needs to attain a professional status; and “occupational” (eg. sales assistants) – where the emotional labourer does not need a professional qualification. It was found that 1) there were differences between the expectations, motivations and coping mechanisms displayed by professional and occupational emotional labourers; as well as in the expectations of the customer/recipient within a professional service and an occupational one; 2) that many recipients do not necessarily want to be treated as “sovereign” (ie. “king”) and judge an emotional labour interaction more positively when their individual needs are acknowledged; 3) while display rules and targets were still a notable constraint on the labourer, nevertheless “occupational” emotional labourers (sometimes in collusion with their managers) found ways of resisting further strain from recipients through over-politeness, ironically in accordance with display rules which exposed recipient rudeness; 4) professional emotional labourers, however, found the display rules and targets a hindrance. This managerial misunderstanding or poor appreciation of “professional” emotional labour caused resentment among them; 5) unique and spontaneous kindness was evident in many emotional labour interactions with managers, colleagues and most commonly recipients. Moreover, this was acknowledged by giver and receiver as the most satisfying and memorable part of emotional labour – and something unique to emotional labour itself. The recommendations of this thesis are therefore: i) that emotional labour should be differentiated within services in order for more focussed findings and recommendations to be generated and applied ii) that emotional labour be analysed as interactive process where emotional labourer, recipient and their organisational management contribute to a high level of enjoyment within the job. That is, it is not necessary to view emotional labour as the oppressive and intrusive management of personality by a capitalist organisation iii) recognition be given to the importance of kindness within the emotional labour interaction, as it can be both a source of pleasure, and also pain, for the compassionate labourer. This has important implications for the selection, training and providing emotional support for workers.

The problems of forced labour and degrading work persist within modern sectors of contemporary economies. This presents both a practical and a theoretical challenge, as reflected in the literature on new slavery and on unfree labour. Analysis of the production networks within which forced labour and degrading work are found, however, has yet to form a central theme within these bodies of literature. This thesis contributes to filling the above-mentioned gap in the literature by exploring the role of the labour dynamics of production networks in two cases of 'slave labour' in Brazil. The first case involves internal migrant workers in sugar cane while the second case involves cross-border migrants in garment workshops. The thesis addresses the question of whether, and how, the labour dynamics of production networks contribute to 'slave labour' and degrading work in the Brazilian sugar cane and garment sectors. The analysis is a cross-disciplinary one, rooted in development studies but also drawing on economic geography, sociology and economics. A case study method is used, relying principally on archival sources, a focus group and semi-stuctured interviews. Drawing on and developing the Global Production Network (GPN) framework, dynamics of production networks are conceived of as sets of power relations which structure the constraints and opportunities for the various actors who negotiate within them. These interlocking sets of relations include, among others: relations between workers, producers, suppliers, buyers, market intermediaries, civil society groups and the state. The labour dynamics of production networks are the subset of these dynamics involving or impacting relations between workers and employers and thereby structuring conditions of employment. Conditions of employment for migrant workers are examined in each case to show how these constitute 'slave labour.' Degrading conditions and restricted freedoms are found to exist to different degrees and along a number of dimensions. At the extreme, these conditions are labelled 'slave labour' in Brazil. It is argued that 'slave labour' in these cases is therefore a symptom of a wider problem of degrading work. The labour dynamics of production networks are analysed to reveal how producers at labour-intensive stages of production in both cases face increased levels of competition, and their strategies in response to these pressures intersect with the strategies of migrant workers and labour market intermediaries to produce outcomes of 'slave labour' and degrading work. Race, gender and migration status play a complex role in creating categories of workers vulnerable to degrading work and 'slave labour,' drawing attention to the way that production is necessarily embedded in particular socio-economic contexts. The analysis highlights the importance of accounting for and intervening in production networks within efforts to address 'slave labour' and degrading work.

This thesis begins by revisiting and building on themes of labour market segmentation, with particular reference given to Marx's seminal account of segmentation in Capital, Vol.1 (Chapter 25). Marx distinguishes between an active army - the stable full-time employed - and the relative surplus population - the precariously employed reserve army and the residual surplus - and suggests further fragmentation of these main groups into sub-strata. Marx's perspective of segmentation is grounded in fragments of a general theory of employment that, as a long-term tendency, identifies continual advances in constant capital that abolish work and proliferate the reserve army. This thesis builds on these themes by formulating a concept, the 'transference dynamic', which underpins a general theory of employment segmentation. A short history of segmentation under capitalism traces recent phases of development in both developed and lesser-developed nations. Stress is placed on the role of political configurations that regulate capitalism in ways that can either counter the general tendency, such is the case under the Fordist model of capitalism, or strengthen its logic. The theory of employment segmentation and the lessons drawn from the historical account are spliced together with an analysis of the contemporary phase of capitalism, labelled here as the neoliberal model of development. It is demonstrated that the coercive international regulatory dynamic of the neoliberal model reasserts and extends the competitive principle of the capitalist mode of production. Through this extension, nations are transformed into competition-states vying for scarce and globally mobile capital to operate on their shores - the primary source of national prosperity and employment - by implementing capital-friendly neoliberalized policy. This analysis of neoliberal global capitalism reveals an expanding surplus population within a context of deepening international segmentation. This employment crisis is expressed as a hierarchy of nations that is determined in part by their uneven development. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy, comprising a majority portion of the world's population, contain a massive reserve army and residual surplus population unincorporated into wage-based capitalism, without any obvious support of means of life and with little hope for the future. Finally, mainstream solutions are criticized for failing to address either long-run or contemporary drivers of the employment crisis. In response, this thesis pitches a project of multi-faceted radical reform that counter-regulates capitalism by adopting a combination of local, national, regional and global forms of democratic socialist governance.

This dissertation consists of three empirical essays that examine different aspects of wage determination in local labour markets. The first essay investigates whether or not there are human capital externalities or spill-overs from education. I find that the fraction of college graduates in U.S. cities is associated with higher wages in the 1980s but not in the 1990s. To rationalize this pattern, I empirically investigate a model of structural change by Acemoglu (1999) and find considerable support for it in a number of dimensions. Consistent with the notion that there has been a structural change in the labour market, increases in the supply of skilled labour in the 1990s induce a change in the composition of jobs, increase inequality, unemployment, the return to education, and the wages of high-skill workers and harm low-skill workers. The second essay, which is co-authored with Paul Beaudry and David Green, develops a multi-sector search and matching model of the labour market that illustrates a mechanism through which changes in local industrial composition can cause changes in wages in all sectors of the local economy. We empirically test this model using geographical variation in industrial composition across U.S. metropolitan areas from 1970 to 2000 and find that shifts in industrial composition that favor high-paying industries impact wages in other sectors in a manner that is consistent with the model. The third chapter, co-authored with Christopher Bidner, extends the model developed in chapter two to examine the impact of changes in industrial composition on the relative wages of men and women. We find that men lost representation in high-paying industries relative to women and that these losses can account for a substantial portion of the `unexplained' gender pay gap. All three essays use data from the U.S. decennial Censuses and take U.S. metropolitan areas as local labour markets.

It has long been recognised that the 1906 General Election was of particular significance for the Labour Party. Having entered into a secret electoral agreement with the Liberal Party, this was the year in which Labour first secured a significant parliamentary presence and transformed itself from the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) to Labour Party. However, whilst historians have focused on the longer processes launched by the election, little attention has been paid to the conduct of the election itself, either in the constituencies or in relation to how a relatively unknown political party presented itself to the electorate. In using the 1906 General Election as a focal point, this study uses seven constituency case studies to analyse the LRC's variegated growth across the country. In so doing, it will concentrate on the party's grass roots to argue that Labour was essentially a local party, reflective of the socioeconomic and cultural contexts from which it emerged, and with its success dependent on its ability to present its politics as an integrated part of the communities it appealed to. A comparative methodology is applied throughout this study, not only with regard to providing a national and local perspective on Edwardian politics, but also in relation to the experience and approaches of the Liberal and Conservative parties. By exploring a relatively neglected period of Labour's history, this study will facilitate a reappraisal of the LRC and contribute to a growing literature centred on the means by which political parties interacted with the electorate. Rather than being seven local case studies in one, therefore, this thesis fully embraces and considers Labour's relationship with locality in order to explain its early experience of British politics

This thesis examines the formation, decline and contribution of the Labour Church during the formative years of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and Labour Party between 1891 and 1914. It provides an analysis of the Labour Church, its religious doctrine, its socio-political function and its role in the cultural development of the early socialist arm of the labour movement. It includes a detailed examination of the Victorian morality and spirituality upon which the life of the Labour Church was built. It also challenges some of the existing historiography and previously held assumptions that the Labour Church was irreligious and merely a political tool, providing a new cultural picture of a diverse and inclusive organisation, committed to individualism and an individual relationship with God. The Labour Church was founded by the Unitarian Minister John Trevor in Manchester in 1891 and grew rapidly. Its political credentials were on display at the inaugural conference of the ILP in 1893, and the church proved a formative influence on many pioneers of British socialism. As such, the thesis brings together two major controversies of Nineteenth Century Britain: the emergence of independent working-class politics and the decline of traditional religion. This thesis considers the Labour Church's role in an era of cultural change, in increasing secularisation and politicisation. It examines the disagreements between John Trevor and his political allies regarding the format, purpose and the morality of the Labour Church; the distinctive character of the Church's theology and doctrine within the wider religious and political debates of the period. Beyond the labour movement, it charts links between the Labour Church and the women's movement, children's associations and with regard to radical literary traditions.

This thesis examines the utilization and management of labour in the British coalmining industry in the period between 1900 and 1940. The period was one in which the British coal industry experienced a dramatic reversal of fortunes. Over the nineteenth century and up until the First World War, output and employment increased rapidly. Expansion had been assisted by the opening-up of large export markets in Europe and by 1913, the British coal industry shipped abroad a third of its output of 287 million tons.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The recent discussions regarding the relations between the government and industry have highlighted the importance and continuous changes that have been investigated, tried and tested by the tri-part alliance since its inception. A study was conducted of all the current issues and changes in labour legislation and its impact on the labour market. Due to the continuous changes and heated debates, not to mention regular strikes and negotiations by those parties and their representatives, this topic is heated and ever changing.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die onlangse onderhandelinge en besprekings betreffende die verhouding tussen die regering en industrie plaas klem op die belang van en gereelde veranderinge wat ondersoek, geimplimenteer en getoets is deur die drieledige alliansie sedert laasgenoemde se ontstaan. 'n Studie is gedoen van die huidige kwessies en veranderinge in arbeidswetgewing en die impak daarvan op die arbeidsmark. Die gereelde veranderinge in wetgewing en soms hewige debatvoering tussen die betrokke partye, bo en behalwe die gereelde stakings en onderhandelinge deur daardie partye en hul verteenwoordigers, maak hierdie onderwerp baie sensitief en stel dit bloot aan gereelde ondersoek en verandering.

Avec le vieillissement général de la population et ses implications sur la pérennité des finances publiques, le marché du travail des seniors est un thème qui va continuer à préoccuper nos sociétés. L’objectif de cette thèse est de répondre à des problématiques concrètes relatives au marché du travail des personnes âgées. Cette thèse comprend quatre chapitres. Les deux premiers chapitres s’intéressent à l’évolution des trajectoires salariales en fin de carrière professionnelle. Les résultats ne supportent pas l’idée que les salaires décroissent pour les travailleurs âgés à cause de l’âge. La diminution du salaire observée pour les travailleurs âgés en coupe transversale est le résultat d’effet de cohorte, de changement d’emploi, ou de la retraite partielle. Le Chapitre 3 évalue les effets des réformes du régime des retraites sur les transitions du chômage à l’emploi. Les réformes du régime des retraites ont des effets limités sur le retour en emploi des chômeurs, mais elles sont accompagnées par une augmentation des sorties vers l’inactivité, entraînant ainsi une baisse du taux de chômage des travailleurs âgés. Enfin, le Chapitre 4 examine les principaux facteurs des difficultés des seniors à se maintenir en emploi. Il propose également une analyse des opportunités d’emploi des chômeurs âgés. Les résultats montrent que l’état de santé, les incitations économiques et l’âge augmentent la probabilité de quitter son emploi, alors que l’âge diminue les chances de réemploi des travailleurs âgés. Une décomposition à la Oaxaca confirme le rôle déterminant de l’âge dans les différences de durée de chômage entre travailleurs d’âge différent, ce qui est consistent avec des attitudes discriminatoires
With the global ageing of population and the consequences on public finances sustainability, the labour market of older workers remains a key concern for societies.The aim of this dissertation is to address particular issues on the labour market for older workers.This thesis consists of four chapters.The first two chapters examine the age-earnings trajectories late in working life.We do not find support of a decline of earnings at older ages as the consequence of ageing.The decline of the age-earnings profile observed for older workers at cross-sectional analysis is attributable to cohort effects, job-changing, and partial retirement.Chapter 3 evaluates the effects of French pension reforms on older workers’ transition out of unemployment and into employment. We find that the retirement reforms have limited effects on re-employment, and they increase transitions into inactivity, leading to a decrease of unemployment rate of older workers.Finally,Chapter 4 investigates the factors behind difficulties to remain in employment as workers age. It also evaluates job opportunities of older unemployed workers.The results indicate that the probability of leaving employment increases with economic incentives, ill health and age, while the probability of getting back to employment decreases with age.An Oaxaca decomposition supports the key role of age in the unemployment duration gap between ‘older’ and ‘younger’ workers, which is consistent with age discrimination

Defence date: 22 February 2019
Examining Board: Prof. Hans-Peter Blossfeld, European University Institute (Supervisor); Prof. François Rycx, ULB (Co-Supervisor); Prof. Anton Hemerick, European University Institute; Prof. Manos Matsaganis, Politecnico di Milano
Despite the large body of literature on labour market institutions and their effects on employment and unemployment, large gaps remain. This thesis sheds a new light to the old problem of labour market institutional design and labour market performance. It examines how labour market institutions in different European models of capitalism affect labour market transitions. It does so by employing an advanced econometric method: an event history analysis, estimating a piecewise constant exponential model. Longitudinal data are employed from three different national datasets (the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP), the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the Italian Survey “Famiglia e soggetti sociali”) for the period 1990–2009. The effects of labour market institutions are estimated both at a country-level and at a comparative, pooled-country-level to increase the degrees of freedom and the variability in the independent variables. The empirical evidence suggests that institutions indeed have a significant effect on labour market transitions and this effect differs largely among different models of capitalisms, corroborating the Varieties of Capitalism approach. In accordance with the latter, the importance of non-pecuniary institutions such as trade union power, trade union fragmentation and wage bargaining is re-affirmed and substantial labour market institutional complementarities are found. This thesis advocates for an optimal, strictly positive and intermediate level of EPL in all countries; an unemployment insurance contingent on strict conditionality and high activation; while the optimal level and system of wage bargaining are found to depend crucially on the trade union power as well as trade union coordination and fragmentation. Trade union fragmentation is found to reduce all labour market transitions and have a negative effect on labour market performance.

The partograph, developed over 50 years ago and based on research conducted by Friedman (1954, 1955 & 1956), has been promoted by the World Health Organisation as the “gold” standard for assessing progress in labour. The basic premise of the partograph is that regular vaginal examinations throughout labour that calculate the extent and rate of cervical dilation will be the most reliable indicator of labour progress. A review of the medical and midwifery literature suggested that the progress of labour can also be assessed by observing women’s behavioural responses to labour. This study set out to describe and test the reliability and consistency of these behavioural cues. These cues were derived from published literature and used to construct a “Labour Assessment Tool” (LAT). The LAT was tested and modified using an expert reference group and results of a pilot test. Inter-rater reliability was established during the pilot study and verified with other experienced midwives as data collectors. The LAT recorded partograph observations as well as labour behaviours. The study was undertaken in two Australian hospitals between 1999 and 2002. Women were given information on the study during regular antenatal visits to the hospitals from 30 weeks gestation and invited to participate during one of their antenatal visits between 37 weeks and 42 weeks of pregnancy. There were 21 women of the 225 women approached who declined to participate. The LAT observations were recorded on 203 participants however only 179 participants (94 nulliparous and 85 multiparous women) who generated 47,768 individual observations were suitable for analysis. There were 59 participants (31 nulliparous and 28 multiparous women) who were induced into labour or had their labours augmented. Women excluded from the study included those with complications of pregnancy and labour. Women were also withdrawn from the study at the time an epidural was commenced but their data to that point were retained for analysis. The data were examined from three perspectives. The first was from a ‘phases of labour’ perspective based on the work of Friedman (1954; 1955). Data obtained at the time the women had an internal cervical assessment were allocated to early labour, active labour, transition or full dilation, based on the results of the cervical measurements. The second perspective examined all the descriptors over the course of labour from admission to hospital or the beginning of an induction of labour, to second stage of labour. Frequencies were again generated for each behaviour from admission to hospital until full dilation. They were compared to the mean dilation generated for both parity groups based on the 279 cervical examinations that were performed on the participants. The third perspective examined behavioural patterns observed within each woman’s labour unrelated to the time to full dilation or Friedman’s phases of labour model. Results indicate that specific behavioural descriptors associated with progress were observed before cervical dilation increased. Descriptors indicating cervical dilation was occurring, or had occurred, and descriptors indicating impending second stage as well as second stage itself, were identified. Differences were observed between the labours of multiparous and nulliparous women and induced labours and non induced labours.

The dissertation aims to explore the supply and demand side determinant of child labour at macro, meso and micro level. At macro level it explores the effect of globalization (defined as openness to trade and inflow of foreign direct investment) and credit market imperfections on child labour. At meso level it explores the effect of labour market conditions on child labour. As the above two levels of analysis are mainly concerned with the demand for child labour, the micro level analysis explores the supply side determinant of child labour. At micro level this dissertation explores the effect of intrahousehold distribution of power on child related outcome. Specifically it explores the effect of mother’s decision making power on her child’s labour and schooling. The macro level analysis is based on cross country regression framework while meso and micro level analysis is based on the data from Pakistan. At macro level, this dissertation points out that trade openness and FDI inflow raise the standard of living in an economy thereby reducing child labour incidence. As the channel through which trade could affect child labour is by increasing income of the poor, credit market imperfection shows insignificant effect. At meso level, this dissertation points out that high adult wages in an area increase demand for child labour while presence of adult unemployed proportion in an area reduces demand for child labour. However, presence of unemployed adult in a house increases supply of child labour. Exports, on one hand, reduce supply of child labour by affecting the income of poor at macro level while on the other hand at meso level, subcontracting of production process to small informal sector increases demand for child labour. The informal sector being unprotected by law employs a high proportion of child labour. At micro level mother’s decision making power significantly decreases child labour supply and increases child schooling. The effect is significant in case of girls but not in case of boys. This study also shows that whether children work for generating income or as family helpers, mothers are equally concerned for their welfare. Their decision making power significantly reduces labour among children.

The labour pain experienced by 101 women giving birth in a Scottish hospital was assessed by the McGill Pain Questionnaire and Visual Analogue Scales during active first stage labour and post-natally. Labour pain was found to be on average severe, but not intensely negatively affective. Its intensity varied considerably and was related to parity and the duration of the first stage of labour reflecting underlying differences in levels of noxious stimulation. Other obstetric and pharmacological factors which might affect noxious stimulation were not significantly related to pain scores. Induction was related to higher,and complications of pregnancy, to lower levels of pain attributable to psychological modulation. The desirability of pregnancy, positive and accurate expectations of birth, ante-natal training and the welcomed presence of the husband at the birth were associated with significantly lower levels of labour pain, particularly of non-sensory pain. A few subjects had very minimal previous experience of pain. These subjects had the lowest levels of pain in childbirth, perhaps because they were relatively insensitive to noxious stimulation. Subjects whose previous experience of pain had been extensive had significantly lower levels of labour pain than subjects whose previous pain experience had been more limited. Subjects who had extensive experience of pain used a larger number of strategies to cope with that pain than subjects whose experience had been more moderate. They used more strategies during labour, a greater proportion of which they had used previously. The use of a number of strategies in labour, either in combination or in sequence was related to lower levels of labour pain but not to painless childbirth. So too was the use of strategies which had been previously utilised. The relationship between previous pain experience and levels of labour pain was mediated by the differential use of coping strategies.

This thesis consists of three chapters on the general equilibrium effects of unemployment insurance (UI) extensions on the macroeconomy. In Chapter 2, I quantify the effects of the increasing maximum UI duration during recessions on the drop in the correlation between output and labour productivity in the US since the early 1980’s. Using a search and matching model with stochastic UI duration, heterogeneous match quality, variable search intensity and on-the-job search, I find that the model can explain over half of this drop. In Chapter 3, I investigate the impact of UI extensions on the incidence of long-term unemployment and on the unemployment duration distribution in the US. I extend the model in Chapter 2 by allowing for further worker heterogeneity and for UI benefits to depend on match quality during employment. I demonstrate that eliminating all UI extensions during the Great Recession could lower the (long-term) unemployment rate by 0.9-3.4 (4) percentage points and the average unemployment duration by 27 weeks. Once UI statuses and benefit levels are accounted for, unobserved heterogeneity of workers does not account for much of the incidence of long-term unemployment. In Chapter 4, I study the role of worker’s UI history and the responses of unemployment and its duration structure to UI extensions. Building on the model in Chapter 3, I consider three unemployment statuses: insured, formerly insured and uninsured (who never received UI). To make the model empirically consistent, I introduce a drop in job search efficiency amongst the insured unemployed workers. This feature increases the persistence of unemployment, average unemployment duration and long-term unemployment, and moderates their responses to UI extensions. Comparing to Chapter 3, the effects of removing UI extensions during the Great Recession on the unemployment duration is revised downwards to a 24-week reduction. Finally, this extension removal improves welfare but the gain subsides as the economy recovers.

In this thesis I study the nature of labour income risk and labour market dynamics. The first chapter attempts to enhance our understanding of the interplay between labour and financial markets. We develop a simple general equilibrium model with labour market frictions and an imperfect financial market. When calibrating the model to the Great Recession and its aftermath, we find that the lack of an improvement in the financial sector’s effectiveness to intermediate resources played a crucial role in the slow recovery of the labour market. The second chapter uses rich Norwegian population panel data to provide new evidence on labour income risk over the life cycle. We find that the income processes differ systematically by age, skill level and their interaction. Our findings suggest that the redistributive nature of the Norwegian tax–transfer system plays a key role in attenuating the magnitude and persistence of income shocks, especially among the low skilled. The third chapter presents an estimated income process that is consistent with recent evidence on income risk over the life and business cycle. Using Norwegian population panel data, we estimate an income process that allows income risk within each skill group to depend on the previous income level, calendar time and experience. The fourth chapter attempts to bridge the gap between the literature on income dynamics and the search and matching literature. We develop a frictional model of the labour market in which inequality in earnings and consumption results from the interaction between heterogeneity of workers, heterogeneity of jobs, shocks to human capital, and labour market frictions.

Background: Acupuncture involves puncturing the skin with thin sterile needles at defined acupuncture points. Previous studies are inconclusive regarding the effect of acupuncture on labour pain, but some studies have found a reduction in the use of pharmacological pain relief when acupuncture is administered. The appropriate dose of acupuncture treatment required to elicit a potential effect on labour pain has not been fully explored. The dose is determined by many different factors, including the number of needles used and the intensity of the stimulation. In Sweden, manual stimulation of the needles is common practice when acupuncture is used for labour pain, but electrical stimulation of the needles, which gives a higher dose, could possibly be more effective. The overall aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture with manual stimulation (MA) of the needles as well as acupuncture with a combination of manual and electrical stimulation (EA) in reducing labour pain, compared with standard care without any form of acupuncture (SC). Methods: The study was designed as a three-armed randomised controlled trial in which 303 nulliparous women with normal pregnancies were randomised to MA, EA, or SC. The primary outcome was labour pain, assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes were relaxation during labour, use of obstetric pain relief, and associations between maternal characteristics and labour pain and use of epidural analgesia respectively. Also, labour and infant outcomes, recollection of labour pain, and maternal experiences, such as birth experience and experience of the midwife, were investigated two months after the birth. The sample size calculation was based on the potential to discover a difference of 15 mm on the VAS. Data were collected during labour before the interventions, the day after birth, and two months later. Besides using the VAS, information was collected by means of study specific protocol, questionnaires and medical records. Results: The mean VAS scores were 66.4 in the MA group, 68.5 in the EA group, and 69.0 in the SC group (mean differences: MA vs. SC 2.6 95% CI -1.7 to 6.9, and EA vs. SC 0.6 95% CI -3.6 to 4.8). Other methods of pain relief were used less frequently in the EA group, including epidural analgesia, MA 61.4%, EA 46%, and SC 69.9%. (EA vs. SC OR 0.4 95% CI 0.2 to 0.7). No statistically significant differences were found in the recollection of labour pain between the three groups two months after birth (mean VAS score: MA 69.3, EA 68.7 and SC 70.1). A few maternal characteristics were associated with labour pain (age, dysmenorrhea, and cervix dilatation), but none of the investigated characteristics predicted the outcome of the acupuncture treatment in MA or EA. Women in the EA group experienced acupuncture as being effective for labour pain to a higher extent than women who received MA, MA 44.4%, EA 67.1% (EA vs. MA OR 2.4 95% CI 1.2 to 4.8). Women in the EA group also spent less time in labour (mean 500 min) than those who received MA (mean 619 min) and SC (mean 615 min) (EA vs. MA HR 1.4 95% CI 1.0 to1.9, EA vs. SC HR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.0), and had less blood loss than women receiving SC, (EA vs. SC OR 0.1 95% CI 0.3 to 0.7). The women’s assessment of the midwife as being supportive during labour (MA 77.2%, EA 83.5%, SC 80%), overall satisfaction with midwife care (MA 100%, EA 97.5%, SC 98.7%), and having an overall positive childbirth experience (MA 64.6%, EA 61.0%, SC 54.3%) did not differ statistically. No serious side effects of the acupuncture treatment were reported. Conclusion: Acupuncture, regardless of type of stimulation, did not differ from standard care without acupuncture in terms of reducing women’s experience of pain during labour, or their memory of pain and childbirth overall two months after the birth. However, other forms of obstetric pain relief were less frequent in women receiving a combination of manual and electrical stimulation, suggesting that this method could facilitate coping with labour pain.

This thesis consists of three empirical essays within the field of labour economics. As a whole, it explores the (un)intended consequences of labour regulation, with each chapter providing an independent analytical contribution to a specific aspect of the field. Chapter 1 analyzes the effect of a reduction in standard working hours on employment tran- sitions. In this chapter, I study Chile's reduction of weekly working hours from 48 to 45, which was announced in 2001 but implemented in 2005. This policy was innovative, compared with those in other countries, because it isolated the reduction in working hours from other policy changes, such as working time flexibility and financial incentives to firms. Thus, this policy is an interesting example for other countries to study, especially those without the scale capacity to provide such incentives, as it allows them to identify its effects on employment. Our results, which are confirmed by several robustness checks, suggest that despite the pre-announcement of the policy, firms displayed non-anticipatory behaviour on key variables. Furthermore, we find that firms waited to implement the reduction in working hours until just before the deadline. Overall, we find that a reduction in standard hours had no significant effects on employment transitions, although we do find a significant e¤ect on hourly wages (i.e., wage compensation). Chapter 2 extends the analysis of Chapter 1 to health outcomes. This is important, as the health effects of reductions in working hours have not been addressed by the existing literature; instead, most of the empirical evidence concerns employment outcomes, family life balance, and social networks. Using panel data from France and Portugal, this chapter exploits the exogenous variation of working hours coming from labour regulation and estimates its impact on health outcomes. In this way, our contribution to the existing literature is threefold: first, this is the first evaluation of health outcomes of policies that reduce working hours. Second, we avoid the problem of endogeneity with health outcomes by using exogenous reductions of working hours. Third, as the effects on health might depend on the level of working hours, our analysis is performed for two different countries with differing weekly hour thresholds (France, 35 hours; Portugal, 40 hours). Our results suggest a non-monotonic relationship between weekly working hours and health outcomes. In particular, a negative (positive) effect is found for young men (women) in France, and no e¤ect is found in Portugal. Chapter 3 (coauthored by Eugenio Rojas and Mauricio Villena) examines childcare policies and analyzes who effectively pays for childcare when it is not publicly funded. This is interesting, since in several countries governments provide and fund childcare, but in many others it is privately funded, as labour regulation mandates that firms have to provide childcare services. For this latter case, there is no empirical evidence on the effects generated by the financial burden of childcare provision. In particular, there is no evidence about who effectively pays for childcare (i.e., firms or employees) and how it is paid for (i.e., via wages and/or employment). Our study is the first one to provide empirical evidence on the effects generated by the finan- cial burden of childcare provision. For this, we exploit a Chilean labour regulation requiring that firms with 20 or more female workers provide and fund childcare for their workers. Our hypothesis is that, in imperfect labour markets (e.g., oligopsonistic), firms will pass childcare costs on to their workers. To analyze this, we exploit a discontinuity in the childcare provision mandated by the Chilean Labour Code. Our results suggest that firms pass almost the entire childcare cost (nearly 90%) on to their workers via lower wages (not only to female but also to male workers) and not by altering the share of male workers within the firm.

Empirical studies in labour economics often suffer from endogeneity problems. Employing exogenous variations in policies and natural shock, this thesis investigates three topics. The �first two topics concern labour market phenomena in Thailand, whereas the third provides a case study of labour demand adjustment after an international supply chain shock. Chapter 2 assesses the impact of minimum wage policy on wage inequality in Thailand. The result is rather mixed. Although the minimum wage effectively reduces wage inequality among workers in formal sectors, it does not affect the wage distribution in the informal sector at all. The evidence suggests that such a result is mainly driven by weak law enforcement. Meanwhile, using changes in compulsory schooling law, chapter 3 provides consistent estimates of the rates of return to education in Thailand. Based on the IV method, only female employees experience a positive and significant return to (upper primary) education. Interestingly, the size and direction of bias of the estimator, especially for male sub-sample, are not consistent with the conventional result. The possible reasons underlying these �findings are elaborated. Chapter 4 relies on a different type of shock. The Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami 2011 is treated as an external shock to the international supply chain of Auto industry. Then I estimate the impact of the supply chain disruption on labour inputs adjustment in the US auto industry. Despite the break down in supply chain of motor vehicle parts and accessories among Japanese auto companies, these �firms do not seem to reduce their labour inputs (used as a proxy for changes in production) significantly except for a small drop in average monthly earnings of workers in Japanese assembly plants. Also, their competitors make only slight adjustment to capitalize on the Japanese loss. Regarding other margins of adjustment, there is no evidence in support of the adjustment through import or price. Yet inventories and sales incentive appear to be major tools employed to mitigate either positive demand or negative supply shocks on both groups of companies.

My thesis investigates the role of incentives for employees and the phenomenon of labour market hysteresis in driving productivity and employment in the labor market in the UK. Chapter 1 summarizes the thesis. The second chapter estimates the impact of introducing an explicit points-based system in favour of finding jobs for the disabled in a UK job placement agency. Using dynamic analysis, we find that in the long-run the policy improved disabled outflows by 6% and had an insignificant effect on JSA outflows. In the short-run, the policy had a negative impact on JSA outflows that declined by 2%. This is consistent with a model where information helps both groups, but incentives offset this for the able and reinforce it for the disabled. The third chapter studies how incentives are weakened in a public sector organization when rewards are based on team output rather than individual output. With the introduction of team rewards, employees are likely to free-ride on each other’s efforts. I find compelling evidence that this indeed occurs. Peer monitoring, may however, limit free-riding in teams. I formalize the impact under two benchmark models to ascertain the relative impact of peer monitoring and free-riding. Using difference-in-differences estimators, I find that consistent with a degree of peer monitoring, the dilution effect is smaller when peer monitoring is easier. The fourth chapter models the phenomenon of labor market hysteresis in a macroeconomic model to determine its impact on macroeconomic outcomes. In particular, we study its role in determining the impact of the scale and timing of UK’s fiscal consolidation programme on output and unemployment in the UK. Finally, the last chapter studies employee incentives in the context of education. Motivated by a diagnosis of increasing inequality in UK’s educational attainment in secondary education, we recommend a flexible school system and improved school and teacher governance.