Employmentweb_low

policies and interventions
Under neo-liberalism, the ideology of individualised selfinterest
and choice are seen as pre-eminent, while the
significance of economic power imbalances amongst
individuals and the counter-balancing role of collective
interests are minimised. in this way, neo-liberalism has
promoted individuals’ assumption of risk (e.g., individual
pension plans rather than state pensions) and is much less
sympathetic to redistributive mechanisms and social
protection laws circumscribing business and commercial law Telephone operators at the advanced info service
and policies (on competition and the like) and more call centre, Bangkok (Thailand).
sympathetic to business practices such as downsizing, offshoring,
franchising, labour leasing, as well as greater flexibility in
source: © ilo/M. crozet (2005)
work arrangements, including “freer” international flows of labour
(such as business and specialist migration or short-term entrants).
The increased use of supply chains/subcontracting networks (at the
national and international level), often driven by powerful
corporations, has also accelerated changes to labour market
conditions in both wealthy and poor countries.
in wealthy countries, the outcomes of these changes include a
reduced social safety net for the unemployed and poor, job losses in
the public sector, growth in job insecurity and precarious
employment, a weakening (in practice) of regulatory protections, and
the historical re-emergence of an informal economy, including
home-based work and child labour (see Table 12). This impact is
further complicated by increased female workforce participation and
an ageing population in these countries (see age axis in chapter 2).
in poor countries, the reliance on neo-liberal economic policy has
resulted in a model of economic development oriented towards
productivity and supplying products to global markets in three ways.
first, irrespective of their effects on local communities, the strategies
employed include “race to the bottom” working conditions to attract
overseas capital and the use of corporate-friendly, low-regulatory
special export zones. some of the harmful by-products of these
practices include decreased domestic food production, rural dislocation,
and social instability (labonte, schrecker, & Gupta, 2005). in addition,
cuts to the public sector have had significant implications for education
and health expenditures. it has been argued that weakening the capacity
of the state to redistribute income has undermined the low income/high
health outcomes a number of middle-low income countries had
managed to achieve in previous decades (labonte, 2001). The formal
sector has experienced downsizing, job insecurity and outsourcing
analogous to those in wealthy countries, while the already substantial
informal sector, exempt from most forms of social protection, has grown
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