Search

This study, conducted through a combination of interviews, surveys, and direct observations, examines the exploitation of sleep-in domestic workers from Lesotho who work in South African households. Based on data collected from 15 participants, the research brings to light the difficult living conditions these workers face, including a lack of privacy and inadequate working environments. The study identifies several key issues, such as the absence of written contracts, leaving workers susceptible to exploitation, unpaid overtime, and widespread non-compliance with minimum wage laws. The research shows that domestic workers encounter major obstacles in getting necessary healthcare and support services, which worsens their already unstable situation. The study also emphasizes the lack of chances for training and skills improvement, which hampers the workers' ability to enhance their lives and find better job opportunities. Many of these domestic workers are the main providers for their families and single parents, making the importance of fair pay and good working conditions even more crucial. The study highlights the significance of fair pay and good working conditions, stressing the urgent need for these rights and immediate policy interventions to be upheld. The research aims to bring attention to the systemic exploitation faced by this vulnerable group and advocate for essential reforms to protect their rights and improve their living and working conditions. Overall, the study emphasizes the pressing need for policy interventions and support mechanisms to empower domestic workers and enhance their quality of life in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Automobile Technology & Material is the property of Automobile Technology & Material Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to analyze the effects of food tariff changes on the welfare of urban and rural households in Iran. The study considers the role of households as consumers, producers, and workers, as well as the market structure over the past fifteen years. Firstly, the study estimated the consumption behavior for the main food groups using the QUAIDS and pseudo-panel data. Then, the extent of tariff pass-through to domestic food prices was determined, and after that, price-wage elasticity and wage changes as a result of tariff changes were estimated. Finally, it calculated the effect of tariff changes on household purchasing power and income through an indirect utility function to get welfare effects. The results indicate that tariff pass-through to food prices is incomplete and varies between urban and rural areas. The study has found that skilled labor is more sensitive to food tariff reductions than unskilled labor, particularly in rural areas. The results reveal that tariff changes positively affect urban households' welfare, while rural households experience a loss due to these changes. Urban areas benefit from reduced household expenditure, while food prices are increasing in rural areas due to weak or absent tariff passthrough. Although these increases favor producers, they do not compensate for the loss consumers suffer, resulting in reduced welfare in rural areas. The findings show that the effects of tariff changes vary across regions, not only between urban and rural areas but also among different provinces. Furthermore, the tariff reductions have been a boon for consumers, but a bane for producers, ultimately harming production in the long term. The findings suggest that regional markets may be either sufficient or insufficient to convert pass-through-the-border prices into domestic prices. Therefore, policymakers can use this study as a useful guide to reform the regional market structure to raise household welfare, food security, and income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: In the past decades, increasing population, urbanization and industrial development, have increased demand for water which has resulted into considerable decrease in annual renewable water resources per capita. One of the most important ways to solve the problem of water shortage is pricing. Based on the studies, there is a significant gap between the actual water price and the price paid by consumers. Therefore, design of water price structure is a crucial issue for water utilities and local communities to achieve an efficient allocation of the scarce water resources. In this study, the effect of water pricing on structural changes has been investigated. Structural changes can occur due to changes in total income and changes in relative prices. Structural changes can also occur through changes in input-output (partial) links, which have received less attention in the literature (Neuss 2019). The purpose of this study is to answer the question whether water pricing can cause structural changes in the Iranian economy in the horizon of 2032? METHODOLOGY: In this study, dynamic general equilibrium models have been used. The data required to simulate the scenario proposed in this research is taken from the ninth version of GTAP-E. According to the research objectives, the regions are divided into Iran and rest of the world. Economic sectors include agriculture, coal, oil, gas, industry, petrochemicals, electricity, water and services. Factors of production include skilled labor, unskilled labor, land, natural resources, and capital. In this study, two scenarios are defined. In the first scenario, an impact of 30% on the price of water in the industrial sector is considered. In the second scenario, an impact of 30% on the price of water in the agricultural sector is considered. In the third scenario, an impact of 30% on the price of water in both sector is considered. FINDINGS: The results show that with increasing water prices in the industrial sector (first scenario), skilled and unskilled labor in the agricultural sector decreases. Therefore, it can be accepted that the labor move from the agricultural sector to other economic sectors. Rising prices have also led to an increasing in the employment of skilled and unskilled labor in the coal, oil, gas, petrochemical and electricity sectors. With the increase in water prices in the agricultural sector (second scenario), the increas skilled and unskilled labor in the industrial and service sectors has always increased during the forecast years. Therefore, it can be concluded that one of the important factors affecting the structural changes that have occur slowly over the past years can be the change in water prices in various economic sectors. Also, the reduction of capital in the agricultural sector is associated with the use of capital in the main energy sectors in Iran. CONCLUSION: Structural changes are one of the causes and effects relationship in economic development. Structural changes is formed with the development process itself can also be a factor of development and prosperity. For structural change, generally a shocke in a part of the economy can be a reason for structural change. For this reason, in this study, water prices in economic sectors have been considered. The results show that increasing of water prices in the industrial and agricultural sectors, lead to the population growth of skilled and unskilled labor decreases, but consequently, in the coming years until 2032, skilled and unskilled labor in the industrial and service sectors will experience positive growth. Based on this, it can be concluded that realizing the price of water can help the process of structural change in Iran. Of course, along with the labor force, capital flows have also been affected, which is better reflected in key energy sectors. Therefore, realizing the price of water and taking a step in its direction can help the process of using the active population of the country in order to achieve stable and sustainable growth. Therefore, the policy proposal is that the gradual realization of water prices can gradually cause structural changes in the Iran economy over time, which in turn leads to stable and sustainable growth and, most importantly, employment and the formation of sustainable capacities in industry and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key parameter in the analysis of wage inequality is the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled labor. We show that the empirical literature is consistent with both publication and attenuation bias in the estimated inverse elasticities. Publication bias, which exaggerates the mean reported inverse elasticity, dominates and results in corrected inverse elasticities closer to zero than the typically published estimates. The implied mean elasticity is 4, with a lower bound of 2. Elasticities are smaller for developing countries. To derive these results, we use nonlinear tests for publication bias and model averaging techniques that account for model uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Clinical Message: Ruptured sinus of Valsalva (RSOV) upon physical exertion is rare but should be considered in differential in young adults. Symptoms of acute heart failure, hemodynamic instability, and continuous heart murmur raises suspicion for RSOV and requires emergent surgical repair of right ventricular outflow tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Small Business International Review is the property of Asociacion Espanola de Contabilidad y Administracion de Empresas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Indonesia, the negative health impact of COVID‐19 and the initial, direct loss of employment have been largest in urban, not rural areas. But the second‐round effects on labor markets have been very different. They have included a huge, empirically documented migration of newly unemployed urban workers from urban to rural areas, in urgent search of employment, food, and safety from the pandemic. We call this "de‐urbanization." It placed the migrating workers in economic competition with the least skilled agricultural workers, expanding their numbers by almost 8%. By increasing the supply of unskilled farm labor, de‐urbanization depressed farm workers' real wages. Because the demand for farm labor is inelastic, the total wage income of these workers, aggregated across all unskilled farm laborers, declined. The households relying on this source of income are by far Indonesia's poorest. Similar outcomes may occur in other pandemic‐affected developing countries with large agricultural sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Contemporanea is the property of Historia Contemporania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objective of identifying constraining factors is to reveal that the key obstacles affecting the competitiveness of South Africa's domestic orange industry include issues such as the "quality of unskilled labor," "trust in the honesty of politicians," "electricity suppliers," "health," "South Africa's land reform policy," "South Africa's BEE policy," and "crime." Additionally, challenges related to the lack of quality infrastructure, bilateral agreements with trading countries, and poor performance of ports relative to their global counterparts have been identified. The constraining factors were ranked, with the top issues aligning closely with the industry's current challenges. In contrast, enhancing factors play a crucial role in boosting industry competitiveness in both domestic and international markets. The key elements contributing positively include the availability of unskilled labor, local input suppliers, scientific research institutions, technological quality, the cost of unskilled labor, soil conditions, and the sustainability of local input suppliers. Attention to maintaining and improving these factors is crucial for the sustained competitiveness of the South African orange sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancement in technologies such as robotic industries and artificial intelligence bring fear among human being that jobs will be substituted by robots. Base on the panel data of 28 China's manufacturing industries, this research analyzed the impact of technical progress bias on employment. First, we calculate the technical progress bias index of 28 industries base on the stochastic frontier model with transcendental logarithm function found 16 industries were toward the skilled labor while the remaining 12 industries were toward the unskilled labor. Second, the empirical results show that technical progress bias has a positive impact on the total manufacturing employment and significant positive effect on the unskilled labor, while no significant impact on skilled labor employment. Third, the threshold effect test proves that if taking industry value-added per capita or R&D capital stock as threshold variable, the threshold about the impact exist, making the impact on skilled labor was insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the representation of social classes in novels about the crisis based on a general overview and the subsequent analysis of two works with choral protagonists, Los besos en el pan by Almudena Grandes and Peligro de derrumbe by Pedro Simón. It is found that this narrative has focused its interest on the portrayal of the decomposition of the middle class and has thus contributed to shaping a depiction of the consequences of the economic crisis from a partial and limited perspecti- ve that sidelines migrants, workers, or laborers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the qualitative results of a survey of 285 H-2A workers in Ohio to explore questions of care, social reproduction, and agency within agricultural guestwork. Drawing on frameworks developed in labor and feminist geography, it examines how H-2A workers create community and develop skills of social reproduction during their time in the United States. Countering the common narratives of H-2A worker as victims or stoic, long suffering laborers, the research draws attention to the relational and emotional lives of the men who do this work. By highlighting affective and social dimensions of the guestworker experience, it argues for an approach to questions of agricultural labor that emphasizes the agency, range of experiences, and humanity of the people who participate in the H-2A program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the post-earthquake performances of structures in four rural villages in the Moroccan Atlas, emphasizing common construction system characteristics and design flaws that render buildings susceptible to seismic events. Village selection was based on a prior multispectral satellite-image study, proving effective for planning high-impact, post-earthquake field campaigns. The significance of this research resides in on-site data collection, facilitating the physical assessment of earthquake-induced damage and identification of inherent vulnerabilities in construction systems. The constructions in the study area exhibited structural design deficiencies, inadequate construction techniques, and urban modifiers, leading to damage extensively documented in the literature, as well as less-documented unique damage. Predominant seismic-design shortcomings in the study area included subpar material quality, insufficient earthquake-resistant design, and unskilled labor. In situ data were complemented by a global geospatial approach using differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry with Copernicus Sentinel 1 data. Once calibrated the proposed methodology with field data, the analysis of remote sensing processing results, allow assessing the damages in other earthquake-affected areas, including those not visited in the field but also impacted by the seismic event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on the articles that won the Impact Award for theoretical contributions as well as practical value that were published in the "Academy of Management Journal." It mentions Blake E, Ashforth's paper on managing workers in what are considered dirty jobs, Robin Ely's research on women's construction of gender identity in the workplace, and the importance of research in less examined occupations.

Over the last ten years, from the PEC das domésticas to law 150/2015, it is still necessary to understand the realities of domestic work and the social and cultural aspects in the process of recognizing the rights of domestic workers. The analysis is contextualized through bibliographical research concatenated with data from the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (2022), in order to verify the empirical reality of domestic work in Brazil from an intersectional perspective. The empirical results indicate the coloniality of power in social and legal relations, the racial division of labor, the impoverishment of female heads of household and migration to the day laborer category. By analyzing the advances in social and cultural aspects, we can see the mobilization of associations and unions in the intersectional struggle for recognition, the question of resistance and the visibility of domestic work from the private to the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document presents empirical evidence to understand the impacts of migration on the labor market in Colombia, through the estimation of a multinomial logit-type model for employment and unconditional quantile regression for the effect on wages with information from 2015 to 2019. For both estimates, a difference in differences model is used in order to determine the effect of migration. The main conclusion of the study indicates evidence of an effect on the distribution of employment and wages that refer to the most vulnerable groups, with less education and informality, through an increase in competition in the unskilled labor segment. The effect on wages is limited, but more evident in the lowest income quartiles of the income distribution, with a significant drop in job quality with increases in informality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that Gina Lombroso Ferrero locates the basis for Italy's future imperial development in the economic force of Italian São Paulo. Her travelogue Nell'America Meridionale (Brasile-Uruguay-Argentina): note e impressioni di Gina Lombroso Ferrero (1908) depicts the numerous Italians who migrated to Brazil to work in the coffee fields not as exploited indentured laborers (colonos) but rather as settlers who, by triumphing over adversity, have brought glory to the motherland. In contrast to other Italian travelers to Brazil who quickly condemned the miserable conditions of Italian indentured laborers, Lombroso Ferrero locates in the labor of the colonos the making of an Italian empire. In doing so, she inadvertently reveals the overlap between the two meanings of the Italian word colonia, allowing us to reflect on these two 'colonial' processes not only as co-existing but essentially intertwined and mutually supportive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are less productive firms in developing countries disproportionately affected by climate change? Using firm-level data from Indonesia, I find less productive firms are more likely to exit the surveys when temperature rises. Also, there is relative output redistribution to the initially more productive firms. The results are consistent with a heterogeneous firm model that has a skill-biased production function, where heat disproportionately affects unskilled labor productivity. Finally, surviving firms switched to use of more skilled labor and more imported inputs. These results illustrate how climate change affects firms of different initial productivity and how various margins of firm-level adjustment could mitigate such effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural digitalization has become a key part of modernization in China. However, this rural digitalization follows a top‐down approach, from government guidance to private construction. Rural households' digital abilities have not received sufficient attention. This study explores rural households' digital abilities and their impact on production efficiency. One thousand eight hundred and seventy households are grouped into digital households (who have access to both digital and traditional channels) and traditional households (who only access traditional channels) based on their access to information channels for comparative analysis. The two‐parameter item response theory is applied to measure digital ability; stochastic frontier models are constructed to test the impact of digital ability on production efficiency; and a stochastic meta‐frontier approach is used to compare the efficiency between groups. The results indicate that: (1) digital households have stronger digital abilities than traditional households. (2) Digital ability is positively correlated with production efficiency. This effect is most evident among traditional households, followed by social households (digital households who use more social channels than nonsocial channels), and finally, nonsocial households (digital households who use more nonsocial channels). (3) Human capital (education, health, and skills) of laborers, off‐farm work, and village internet infrastructure all promote efficiency significantly. Research findings can help policymakers formulate targeted interventions to improve rural households' livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on wage inequality in Vietnam by utilizing panel data from 63 provinces over the period 2010–2018. The spatial autocorrelation model is used in the study. Empirical results from the spatial econometric model reveal that FDI tends to increase wage inequality in localities and has direct and spatial effects. Economic growth has led to a reduction in the wage inequality between skilled and unskilled labor. The increase in the proportion of the skilled labor force reduces wage inequality in provinces with high human capital and developed education systems. The study results imply that the policy on attracting and utilizing FDI needs to be aligned with training and human capital development to ensure sustainable development. It is also necessary to emphasize professional training for the workforce to attract FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender-based institutions influence resource allocation within the household and when other measures for economic welfare are scarce or unreliable, the use of biological measures are now standard in economics. This study uses late nineteenth and early twentieth century BMI, statures, and weight to assess how net nutrition accumulated to women and men during U.S. economic development. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, female and male BMIs, statures, and weight remained constant over time. Unskilled laborers' BMIs were higher, their statures were taller, and their weights heavier than workers in other occupations. Women and men from the Northeast and Middle Atlantic had higher BMIs and shorter statures, while their counterparts from the South were taller and had lower BMIs, indicating that it was superior Southern cumulative net nutrition associated with lower BMIs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's pharmaceutical sector has been one of the largest manufacturers of generic drugs globally. During the pandemic, most countries were dependent on imports of generic drugs from India. However, India has been relying on resources from China for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) which are the raw material for preparing generic drugs. We considered, in our analysis, branded product groups of Paracetamol and Amoxicillin due to their extensive use in the treatment of COVID-19. From a thorough market analysis of both the drugs, we conclude that firms have a monopoly over their brands but compete within the same product group and operate in their respective market under varying prices within certain bandwidths which resembles the feature of monopolistic competitive market. We have introduced compensating function a la Helpman (1981) in the pharmaceutical goods market with the assumption that an 'ideal product' exists among the pharmaceutical goods. Given the framework, this paper explores a general equilibrium model set in a monopolistic competitive product market for branded drugs. We concluded through our propositions that expanding the pharmaceutical sector will increase the employment of unskilled labor under no capacity constraint. We will observe an increase in wages of unskilled labor only under full employment conditions wherein we would observe that the expansion of pharmaceutical good will increase wages in the unskilled labor market. However we obtain an intriguing result wherein we obtain that despite instances of limiting trade dependence on China through implementation of policies like 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and 'profit linked incentive schemes', yet to maintain the status quo in the global market for generic drugs, India's dependence on China would increase, owing to API imports due to the pandemic crisis. While India can grab the opportunity in the form of increased demand for pharmaceutical goods to increase the employment level of the economy but this improvement in welfare is also dependent on the degree of dependency of API India has on China. The Indian government has recognized the same through the incorporation of 'Covid-Suraksha' and PLI schemes to minimize import dependency, and accelerate the development of APIs and the production of indigenous drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on technological knowledge, wage inequality, and economic growth, by proposing a Direct‐Technical‐Change model with two economies, an Innovative and other Follower. Six hypotheses are considered: (i) decrease in the unskilled‐labor supply, (ii) decrease in the absolute advantage of unskilled labor, (iii) decrease in the intensity of the unskilled sector, (iv) hypothesis (i) combined with a lower decrease in the skilled‐labor supply, (v) hypothesis (ii) combined with a lower decrease in the absolute advantage of skilled labor, (vi) all the variations previously considered. By comparing the steady states before and after the shock, we find an increase in the technological‐knowledge bias that favors the skill‐intensive sector, which positively affects the skill premium. However, in hypotheses (i) and (iv), the decrease in the relative supply of unskilled labor dominates the effect on the skill premium, which thus decreases. The economic growth rate is always penalized except for hypothesis (iii). Hypotheses (ii) and (iv) are undesirable because they increase wage inequality and penalize economic growth. Governments should support innovative activity, the engine of technological‐knowledge progress, and thus economic growth, but with caution not to exacerbate the skill premium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-20th century, the region of Extremadura suffered an important exodus of unskilled young people in search of work opportunities that would allow them to survive. Nowadays, the phenomenon is repeating itself, but with certain differences. The current emigrant is somewhat more adult, more qualified and without a specific job in the place of destination. The current study focuses on a survey carried out at the University of Extremadura among students in the areas of social sciences, humanities, legal sciences and economics in order to understand their intention to emigrate abroad once they have finished their studies. We found that there is no distinction between genders and that most of the students have direct or indirect cases of international mobility in their environment, which encourages them to take this option into account if, once they have finished their studies, their job aspirations are not satisfied in their place of origin. This reflects certain similarities with the migratory movement that took place in the mid-20th century; however, today, the objectives pursued with this mobility are quite different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does identity influence economic behavior in the labor market? I investigate this question in rural India, focusing on the effect of caste identity on job-specific labor supply. In a field experiment, laborers choose whether to take up various job offers, which differ in associations with specific castes. Workers are less willing to accept offers that are linked to castes other than their own, especially when those castes rank lower in the social hierarchy. Workers forgo large payments to avoid job offers that conflict with their caste identity, even when these decisions are made in private. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges such as social distancing, health fears, reduced interaction, and increased stress for construction workers. Understanding their changing social and psychological states is crucial for effective management and performance. This study investigated the impact of the pandemic on the managers' and laborers' social and psychological well-being states and identified the changes in their social and psychological well-being states affecting project performance before and after the pandemic. Construction professionals, including construction managers, superintendents, and laborers, participated in a survey exploring thirteen social and psychological well-being variables and three performance variables. Data analysis involved paired t-tests and multiple regression. The findings revealed increased levels of anxiety and depression among both managers and laborers after the pandemic, with laborers more severely affected. Managers considered a broader range of variables, while laborers primarily focused on social factors influencing project performance. These disparities suggested that managers should prioritize health and safety measures, fair compensation, team cohesion, and stress management, while laborers' motivation, work environment, knowledge acquisition, and sense of belonging should receive priority attention. This study contributes to providing managerial implications and guidance for improving the construction workforce, including managers' and site laborers' performance in the post-pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scholarly investigation examines the historical wage disparities between skilled and unskilled building laborers, as well as gender-based disparities among unskilled male and female workers in major European metropolises including Vienna, Warsaw, Krakow, and Istanbul. While exploring inequality, the study reveals that significant events such as wars, pandemics, and economic fluctuations have a cyclical impact on wage and gender inequality throughout history. However, it should be noted that gender inequality was only examined in the UK. By delving into the dynamics of wage and gender inequality during the medieval and early modern eras of Europe, this study provides a deeper understanding of the complexities of these social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Circular migration is the dominant pattern of movement in India and is a livelihood strategy used by many food insecure rural households. Repeated shifts in food environments have important implications on household food security and dietary patterns but have not been studied. Objective: To explore differences in the food environment, food security, and food availability between home and destination spaces. Methods: Mixed-methods research was conducted among circular migrant families working and residing on brick kilns in the state of Bihar. Utilizing stratified cluster sampling, 2 rounds of cross-sectional data were collected from 2564 families. Additionally, 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with circular migrant parents, kiln owners, and labor contractors. The Food Insecurity Experience Scale was validated for use in our study population. Bivariate analyses were conducted to estimate the association of food insecurity with sociodemographic variables. Qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive thematic methods. Results: Seventy percent of respondents utilized at least one nonmarket source of food at the origin; at the destination, sources of food were limited to the private market. Despite higher food prices at the destination, perceived food affordability was higher during periods of migration, resulting in improved food security. Tubers, rice, and wheat were typically available in the household daily, whereas fruits, eggs, and dairy were typically unavailable during the week. Conclusions: Circular migration can enable short-term food security by improving food affordability. Policy frameworks must address the root causes of chronic food insecurity, especially among rural-to-rural circular migrant families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a process that integrates behavioral and decision science methods to design and evaluate interventions to disrupt illicit behaviors. We developed this process by extending a framework used to study systems with uncertain outcomes, where only partial information is observable, and wherein there are multiple participating parties with competing goals. The extended framework that we propose builds from artefactual data collection, thematic analysis, and descriptive analysis, toward predictive modeling and agent-based modeling. We use agent-based modeling to characterize and predict interactions between system participants for the purpose of improving our understanding of interventional targets in a virtual environment before piloting them in the field. We apply our extended framework to an exploratory case study that examines the potential of worker centers as a venue for deploying interventions to address labor exploitation and human trafficking. This case study focuses on reducing wage theft, the most prevalent form of exploitation experienced by day laborers and applies the first three steps of the extended framework. Specifically, the case study makes a preliminary assessment of two types of social interventions designed to disrupt exploitative processes and improve the experiences of day laborers, namely: (1) advocates training day laborers about their workers' rights and options that they have for addressing wage theft and (2) media campaigns designed to disseminate similar educational messages about workers' rights and options to address wage theft through broadcast channels. Applying the extended framework to this case study of day laborers at a worker center demonstrates how digital technology could be used to monitor, evaluate, and support collaborations between worker center staff and day laborers. Ideally, these collaborations could be improved to mitigate the risks and costs of wage theft, build trust between worker center stakeholders, and address communication challenges between day laborers and employers, in the context of temporary work. Based on the application of the extended framework to this case study of worker center day laborers, we discuss how next steps in the research framework should prioritize understanding how and why employers make decisions to participate in wage theft and the potential for restorative justice and equity matching as a relationship model for employers and laborers in a well-being economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide a general equilibrium analysis of corporate profit tax on income distribution, unemployment, and wage inequality. With firm dynamics in industrial sector, we identify a new channel through which profit tax affects income and wage inequality: profit tax cut will widen not only the wage gap between skilled and unskilled labor, but also exacerbate the wage inequality of unskilled labor among different sectors. The welfare effect of profit tax cut depends on unemployment deepening (labor‐distortion effect) and more manufacturing firms enter the market (business‐creation effect), eroding the market share of incumbent firms (business‐stealing effect). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Child laborers are often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. Child laborers are one of the most vulnerable groups in domestic violence. Domestic violence severely affects the physical and mental health, and consequently affects substance dependence and resilience to suicide of these children. Accordingly, it is essential to examine domestic violence, substance dependence, and suicidal ideation in working children. Objectives: the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between exposure to domestic violence and substance dependence and suicide resilience on the other among child laborers in Iran. Methods: This study employed cross-sectional research. 600 child laborers were selected via convenience and snow ball sampling from one rehabilitation and welfare center and three charity organization societies in the west of Iran, from January to August 2022. They completed questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22 and with using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and ANOVA, independent t-test and the multiple linear regression model with a backward strategy. Results: Findings showed that exposure to domestic violence has a strong and direct correlation with substance dependence (r = 0.94, p < 0.001) and strong and indirect correlation with suicide resilience (r =- 0.91, p < 0.001). Also substance dependence has a strong and direct correlation with suicide resilience (r = -0.87, p < 0.001) in child laborers. Variables of substance dependence, suicide resilience, gender, guardian's disease status, living status and age can predict 76.51% of the variance in domestic violence in these children. Conclusion: Child laborers experience a lot of domestic violence, which severely affects their suicide resilience and substance dependence in them. Therefore, there is an urgent need for systematic support programs with content (teaching self-care behaviors, stress management, avoiding tense and violent environments) in order to support of these children and reduce domestic violence against them and subsequently reduce substance improve abuse resilience to suicide in these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offsite construction has been shown to possess many advantages and benefits in dealing with the construction industry's challenges, which include poor labor productivity. Nevertheless, all previous productivity-related research studies have focused mainly on factors impacting labor productivity in traditional stick-built construction methods. This paper filled this knowledge gap by following a multistep interrelated research methodology. First, a research team of 19 construction professionals and academics developed and distributed an industry survey to (1) quantify the likelihood of occurrence and relative impact of risk factors that adversely impact labor productivity in offsite construction projects; (2) identify and prioritize key risk factors that adversely affect labor productivity in offsite construction operations; and (3) examine how labor productivity risk factors are perceived by various project stakeholders. Second, different statistical analysis tests and methods (i.e., internal and external reliability, statistically significant differences, clustering analysis, and concordance analysis) were used to critically analyze the results and draw conclusions. Based on a total of 100 responses and 20 labor productivity risk factors, the findings reflected that the top five risk factors adversely affecting labor productivity in offsite construction projects included (1) unskilled labor and improper workforce training and development; (2) poor logistics; (3) errors, omissions, and rework; (4) work area congestion and overcrowding; and (5) insufficient coordination. Also, the findings indicated that labor productivity factors can be clustered into two groups: factors with high overall risk and factors with low overall risk on offsite construction labor productivity; 80% of the risk factors were found to fall into the first category. The results of this study also reflected the need for offsite construction companies and industry practitioners to carefully establish mitigation plans and corrective actions for the identified key risk factors adversely affecting offsite construction labor productivity. This study adds to the body of knowledge by exploring and ranking productivity factors in offsite construction projects. Ultimately, this study will help the industry and research communities better understand factors affecting offsite construction labor productivity, more effectively direct future efforts to enhance labor performance, and devise productivity improvement strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the article is to analyze the effect of technological progress on the profit rate in the manufacturing industry in Mexico and by groups of low, medium, and high technology branches. A model of two technological sectors is developed and it is determined that the labor share in the product and technological progress affect the rate of profit. A panel data model is used to estimate the effects on profitability. With information from the 2004-2019 Economic Censuses, in general, for the industry in Mexico, it is shown that technological progress increased the rate of profit, while the effect of the skill premium had a negative impact. By technology groups, it is observed that low technology branches tend to substitute skill labor for capital, which increases profits, while in high technology, there is no evidence that capital and skills are complementary factors. In conclusion, in industry, the capital-skilled labor ratio has been increasing, however, there is a greater intensification of unskilled work complementary to fixed capital, which increases the rate of profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, which focuses on silver mining in the colonial Andes, attempts to bring silo-ed conversations in the history of science and labor history into a shared dialogue. In so doing, it offers a way to reassess the traditional historiographic consensus that independent wage laborers were "high skilled" and forced laborers were "low skilled." Through linguistic analysis and legal case studies, it shows that miners often crossed back and forth between labor categories and positions, and that frameworks like skills and wages are inadequate to understand workers' experiences and expertise in highly coercive extractive industries like mining in the colonial period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peasants of San Bernardo, Cundinamarca have the certainty that the world is exploding constantly. This article develops the notion of "totiar" as a theory attentive to the sounds that take place in the lives of my friends and teachers. The reflections presented here are a product of my fieldwork as a day laborer during the first half of 2019 and part of 2020. Working on the crops of Agua Negra I learned that "totiar" is a concept that explains different sound and material dimensions of peasant life. This article argues, using different sound paths, that sounds are not a backdrop and that to lead life it is necessary to pay attention to noises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios de Historia de España is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Espacio, Tiempo y Forma: Serie V, Historia Contemporánea is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, envisioned a future possibility for humankind, a community of care. The dominant socio-economic and political thinking of this century, however, finds his vision and unrealizable dream, especially in the light of the cleavages that wall human groupings from another--ethnicity, gender, geography, language, nationality, race, religion, and social class, among others. The focus of this article is to show that the dream has been informing some of the thinking of the last and present century, from a variety of cultural traditions, and that its policy implications, through a number of forums, including the United Nations, offer a future within which the entire human species, together, and the Earth, can mutually thrive and grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brick kiln workers were evaluated in the field using otorhinolaryngologic and head and neck surgery (ENT) assessments. One-hundred and twenty laborers were assessed. The subjects were divided into three categories according to the work area: before the brick kiln, in the brick kiln, and after the brick kiln. Two evaluations were made, a questionnaire and an ENT examination. If structural changes were observed during the examination, the complication was deemed structural. Seventeen laborers who completed the questionnaire did not participate in the examination. A total of 103 laborers participated in the study: 29 before the brick kiln, 63 in the brick kiln, and 11 after the brick kiln. While general otologic complications were observed in 26 (25.2%) laborers, structural otologic complications were observed in 2 (1.9%). While general nasal complications were observed in 70 (68.0%) laborers, structural nasal complications were observed in 27 (26.2%). Although the general otologic and structural nasal complication rates were higher in the brick kiln group, the general, structural otologic, and nasal complication rates did not reach statistical significance among groups (p > 0.05). Both the general and structural nasal complication rates were significantly higher in laborers who had worked for more than 10 years and did not wear a mask (p < 0.01). We detected prominent nasal pathologies in brick kiln workers in our ENT-based study. These pathologies were much more common in laborers who had worked for over 10 years and did not wear a mask. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Report: Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We examine the impacts of a public education subsidy on the wage differential in the presence of automation by establishing general equilibrium models with two-stage skill formation. We show that for an economy with full employment, a public education subsidy will increase the wage differential in the first stage of skill formation, but in the second stage, the wage differential may be reduced if the ratio of unskilled labor to skilled labor is large enough. For an economy with unemployment, a public education subsidy will narrow down the wage differential in the first stage, but in the second stage, the wage differential may be widened if that ratio is large enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate foreign direct investment elasticities of output, of unskilled and skilled labor, and of unskilled and skilled wages for Chile, both at an aggregate level and for eight economic sectors. We use regional data from official Chilean sources ranging from 2012 to 2019 and data from economic sectors in each region for the period 1996–2011. Estimates are based on a simultaneous equation approach, which considers the two-way relationships between FDI and output as well as the relationships between output, labor, and wages stressed by the duality theory of production in economics. The estimations confirm that FDI triggers growth and that FDI follows growth. Due to the positive effects on output, FDI boosts employment creation, particularly of skilled labor. The estimated effects on wages are not significant, either statistically or practically. The output and labor effects of FDI are positive and significant in all economic sectors, but point estimates suggest that they could be larger for the agriculture-forestry-fishing sector. The results indicate that realistic increases in FDI can have substantial output and employment effects in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the clinical history of a young male laborer with Lichtman Stage II Kienbock disease, who underwent a scaphocapitate arthrodesis after a failed silicone lunate prosthesis. After 35 years of follow-up, no further surgical intervention has been warranted despite progression of radiocarpal and ulnocarpal arthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not in dispute that tourism contributes immensely to Botswana's economy and raising the economic profile of remote rural communities within tourist destinations. However, as with many other African tourist destinations, the tourism industry in Botswana has had many dynamics, including the less written about negative impacts on local communities' livelihoods and the environment. This article examines the negative impacts of tourism in Botswana over time, as well as communities' perceptions, which influence attitudes towards the industry. Because of its capital-intensive nature, tourism is almost exclusively foreign owned, elite dominated, with only very few citizen investors making inroads in this 'enclave' sector, thus excluding local participation except as unskilled labourers who are usually subjected to racism and poor working conditions. The study reveals deep seated hidden costs such as psychosocial well-being, exacerbated by a malevolent outbreak of the debilitating COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism in Botswana is based on viewing pristine biodiversity, namely wildlife and scenic beauty. With increasing numbers of wild animals, this led to protracted human-wildlife conflict, accentuating poverty levels, consequently eliciting anti-conservation attitudes among locals. The study uses a qualitative document analysis, utilising secondary sources comprising books, book chapters, academic theses, journal articles, newspapers, government documents, and internet sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long-run manufacturing system can experience machine breakdown at any time for various reasons such as unskilled labor or outdated machinery technology. In an integrated green inventory model, the produced green products cannot all be perfect throughout a cycle, particularly when machines malfunction. Therefore, an inspection policy is introduced to clean the production process from unusable defect products, the correctness of which depends on the discussion of the inspected errors. The perfect products detected via the inspection process are delivered to the retailer as well as the market. To transport green products, it is essential to control the capacity of the containers and the quantities of green products transported per batch. In this study, the greenhouse gas equivalence factor of CO2 emissions is calculated for all green products' manufacturing and transportation mediums. These types of energies are used in the manufacturing process: electricity, natural gas, and coal. Whereas within transportation, four transportation modes are considered: railways, roadways, airways, and waterways. The retailer can agree to transport their inventories to the customers' house according to their requirement by requiring a third-party local agency via outsourcing criteria. The model solves the problem of CO2 emissions through production and transportation within the machine breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]