Child-related leave and women’s labour market outcomes: towards a new paradigm in the European Union?

The current European Union (EU) legislative framework on child-related leave is facilitating an imbalance in the take-up of leave by women over men. There is a consolidated EU right to maternity leave for mothers but there is no parallel EU right to paternity leave for fathers. The EU right to parental leave is for both working mothers and fathers, but its design does not encourage an equal take-up by women and men. The aim of this article is to gain insight into the effects of child-related leave on women’s labour market outcomes. On the one hand, it reviews and analyses economic literature which points to the adverse consequences of leave on women’s earnings, and even on women’s labour market participation when the absences from work are very prolonged. On the other hand, it underlines the new direction followed by the European Commission towards greater equality between men and women at home and at work.     

试论我国未来劳动合同法中缔约过失责任制度的构建——兼评《劳动合同法(草案)》相关条款

当前,构建劳动缔约过失责任制度很有现实必要性。鉴于劳动合同与民事合同之间的差异,在我国未来劳动合同法中缔约过失责任制度的构建中,不能将《合同法》中关于缔约过失责任的相关规定照搬过来,劳动合同缔约过失责任中的主体、适用范围、归则原则、赔偿范围及责任承担方均有其特殊性。     

Employment Niches for Recent Refugees: Segmented Labour Market in Twenty-first Century Australia

A survey of three refugee groups (ex-Yugoslavs, black Africansand people from the Middle East) in Western Australia indicatesthat the recent humanitarian arrivals are concentrated in labourmarket niches such as cleaning services, care of the aged, meatprocessing, taxi driving, security and building. Apart fromthe building industry, these employment niches are situatedin the ‘secondary labour market’ comprising low-statusand low-paid jobs that locals avoid. This article identifiesseveral interrelated mechanisms through which the recent Australianrefugee intake has been relegated to undesirable jobs: non-recognitionof qualifications as a systemic barrier, discrimination on thebasis of race and cultural difference by employers, ‘ethnic-pathintegration’ and the lack of mainstream social networksthat could assist in the job search, and the recent ‘regionalsponsored migration scheme’ through which the governmenttries to address the shortage of low-skilled labour in depopulatingcountry areas. The data show massive loss of occupational statusamong our respondents and confirm the existence of the segmentedlabour market, where racially and culturally visible migrantsare allocated the bottom jobs regardless of their ‘humancapital’. Changes in the nature of the segmented labourmarket in the increasingly mobile global workforce are analysed.Some of these insights are drawn from two other research projectson Bosnian and Afghan refugees in Australia undertaken by theauthors.     

Electricity Market Restructuring and Energy Contracts: A Critical Note on the EU Commission’s NEA Decision

As highlighted in the economic literature, contracts are crucial policy instruments to organize and manage restructured electricity markets. In the early 90’s, during the restructuring of the electricity market in UK, the three main Scottish electricity generators stipulated a long-term, “take-or-pay” contract, the Nuclear Energy Agreement, which contained provisions for the trade of wholesale electricity in Scotland.The European Commission scrutinized such contract in order to derive the congruity of the agreement to European laws. Whilst the NEA was awarded an exemption under Article 85, paragraph 3 of the EU Treaty, the Commission recognized the inner anticompetitive content and potential effects of the contract.In this paper, we criticize the Commission NEA decision and economic reasoning and provide an alternative reading and analytical approach, which lead to opposite results and conclusions (the NEA contract is not anticompetitive and it enhances efficiency in competitive electricity markets). Given that the restructuring process in the EU electricity market is still in fieri, we select the NEA contract as a benchmark-case, in order to provide an alternative reading and a case-study for eventual, future energy contracts administration and authority decisions.JEL K, K2, K230     

在实践中丰富和发展马克思的劳动和劳动价值论

马克思的劳动和劳动价值论是马克思主义经济理论的基础.劳动和劳动价值论目前正面临着知识经济和我国发展社会主义市场经济实践的挑战.中国共产党把马克思主义基本原理与中国具体实践相结合,以邓小平提出的"三个有利于"作为判断标准,依据江泽民总书记的"创新"理论,丰富和发展了马克思的劳动理论、劳动价值理论和工人阶级是先进生产力代表的理论,为马克思的劳动和劳动价值理论赋予了新的时代特征.     

经济合同内审工作面临问题的探讨

在发展社会主义市场经济的条件下,对经济合同实施内部审计显得尤为重要。要解决经济合同内部审计工作中存在的问题,必须提高审计人员的自身素质。同时,还要进一步研究和解决对单位领导人监督的问题和内部审计体系与其他监督形式相互协作等深层次的问题。     

福建省农村剩余劳动力转移：特点、制约因素及对策研究

福建素有“八山一水一分田”之称。人多地少,劳动力过剩使得农村劳动力转移成为一股不可逆转的潮流。当前仍然还有300多万的农村剩余劳动力,农村就业压力并没得到根本缓解。因此,必须采取得力措施,促进农村剩余劳动力合理有序流动,这也是维护社会和谐稳定,协调城乡发展和全面推进小康社会建设的必由之路。     

对马克思复杂劳动理论的再认识

马克思《资本论》提出复杂劳动100多年来,其内容和形式都发生了重大变化。复杂劳动已涉及到经济和社会生活的各个领域,极大地推动了生产力的进步。复杂劳动理论内涵也在实践中得到丰富。复杂劳动产品在价值的确定上,表现出与价值规律某种程度的背离,其带来的巨额利润,则是社会对复杂劳动者投资的回报,使用更高质量生产要素的价值补偿,以及在供求关系作用下,一定时期内拥有相当程度生产经营垄断权的认可。复杂劳动的地位和作用日显重要。     

《劳动合同法》实施初期焦点问题探析

《劳动合同法》颁布后引起全社会各方关注,劳动关系双方也在积极进行调整。对于具体条款的理解存在不统一,有些原则性规定在具体操作中会产生分歧。《劳动合同法》对于中国社会的劳动关系必将产生积极的影响,但同时也要正视存在的问题。