Employmentweb_low

EMploYMEnt, work, And hEAlth inEquAlitiEs - a global perspective
The need to maintain profitability under more restrictive economic
conditions and to optimise conditions for capital accumulation led
employers to focus on achieving productivity gains, expanding their
markets, and engaging in organisational decentralisation no matter what
the consequences for employment or social well-being. Neo-liberalism
arose as a restoration of class power among the upper classes whose
power was seriously threatened before the 1970s (Harvey, 2006). These
aims made it necessary for business and employers to push for wider and
more intensive processes of deregulation and employment flexibility that
profoundly altered the previous labour scenario (Castells, 1996). Thus, a
new managerial strategy emerged, defined as the "flexible firm", dividing
the labour force into a multi-skilled and functionally flexible protected core
and a disposable periphery with fewer labour rights. This resulted in a
segmentation of the labour market (Atkinson & Meaguer, 1986; Atkinson,
1987). The acceptance of the overriding need for flexible markets as a key
to creating employment in competitive contexts thus legitimated the use of
part-time jobs, temporary work, and self-employment. The
"overprotection" associated with permanent full-time employment was
blamed as the factor responsible for the persistence of high unemployment
rates, while employment flexibility in the context of uncertain product
markets and short-term fluctuations in demand was invoked as the only
way out. In addition to meeting the ebb and flow of this consumptionsensitive
production model, part time workers were a convenient solution
that could be disposed of when market conditions forced firms to cut costs.
These workers were considered a better means of tying paid time to work
time, shorter shifts being the solution to unproductive time on the job
(Delsen, 1993; Smith, Fagan, & Rubery, 1998).
Case Study 2. Changes to employment conditions and an ageing workforce. - philip bohle and Michael quinlan
the population and workforce of most developed countries and a number of developing countries (such as china) are
ageing. while there is growing recognition that an ageing workforce has implications for occupational health, little
consideration has been given to the combined effect of workforce ageing and changes in employment conditions identified
in this report, notably the growth of precarious and informal employment (for an exception see wegman & Mcgee, 2004).
nonetheless, there is reason to believe these effects are likely to be profound.
there is evidence that the health and well-being of older workers is more adversely affected by downsizing (gallo et al.,
2004). Furthermore, those losing their jobs are more likely than younger workers to remain unemployed for longer periods
(or permanently), and thus suffer the well-documented adverse health affects associated with joblessness. if they do obtain
jobs, they are more likely to be markedly inferior in working conditions to their previous employment (with the increased
possibility of being insecure jobs that will result in further intermittent bouts of work and unemployment), and again with
adverse health effects including psychological adjustment problems.
as precarious employment has increased, so, it should be noted, has an age bifurcation (see for example louie et al.,
2006). young workers (i.e., less than 25 years of age) and older workers (over 45 years of age) both hold a disproportionate
share of part-time and temporary jobs while older workers are also increasingly likely to be self-employed. this means that
both young and older workers are also disproportionately exposed to the additional health risks associated with these
employment arrangements (and the more limited avenues for articulating their concerns). insecurity can impact on the
emotional and physical well-being of older workers in complex ways (clarke, lewchuk, wolff, & King, 2007). while
conventional wisdom often cites the inexperience of younger workers as putting them at risk for job loss, a recent canadian
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