Labour market risks and political preferences: The case of temporary employment

The political economy literature has gathered compelling evidence that labour market risks shape political preferences. Accordingly, insecurity fuels support for redistribution and left parties. This article analyses this argument for temporary workers, a so far neglected risk category which has increased dramatically in the past two decades. Temporary workers also have been in the focus of recent insider‐outsider debates. Some authors in this line of research have argued that temporary work leads to political disenchantment – for example, non‐instrumental responses such as vote abstention or protest voting. This contradicts risk‐based explanations of political preferences. The article discusses both theoretical perspectives and derives conflicting hypotheses for the empirical analysis of temporary workers' policy and party preferences. The review reveals considerable ambiguity regarding the questions which parties temporary workers can be expected to support and what the underlying motives for party choice are. Synthesising arguments from both perspectives, the article proposes an alternative argument according to which temporary workers are expected to support the ‘new’ left – that is, green and other left‐libertarian parties. It is argued that this party family combines redistributive policies with outsider‐friendly policy design. Using individual‐level data from the European Social Survey for 15 European countries, the article supports this argument by showing that temporary, compared to permanent, workers exhibit higher demand for redistribution and stronger support for the new left. Neither the risk‐based nor the insider‐outsider explanations receive full support. In particular, no signs of political disenchantment of temporary workers can be found. Thus, the findings challenge central claims of the insider‐outsider literature.     

Farm to Non-Farm Employment Linkages and Pattern： An Analysis of Village Level Survey in Bangladesh

The widening of rural-urban continuum has accelerated the transformation of Bangladesh agriculture from subsistence toward commercialization. This has accompanied significant employment linkages and patterns in farm and non-farm sector. Modern rice production contributed to employment generation through backward and forward linkages. The field study of three villages measures farm to non-farm employment linkages for two major rice crops. The estimated backward, forward, and total linkages were 0.18, 0.43, and 0.61 for Boro rice and 0.14, 0.39, and 0.53 for Aman rice. For two crops as a whole, farm to non-farm total employment linkage coefficient was 0.58, which meant that total 100 man days of farm employment per hectare in farm production activities generated 58 man days of non-farm employment in various support services, processing, and marketing activities. Employment pattern in different months was more flexible for the farm workers than for non-farm workers. The availability of farm employment in a month varied from five to 25 days for farm workers, and from 22 to 27 days for non-farm workers. The findings imply that more investrnent in rice-based production system significantly increases non-farm employment opportunities. From national policy perspective, more research and development efforts should go into accelerating potential rural growth and non-farm sector development.     

劳动合同内容的妥当性--《劳动合同法》第26条第1款第2项的解释适用

内容的适法性与妥当性均系劳动合同的生效要件。《劳动合同法》第26条第1款第2项应当被定位为体现劳动合同特色的妥当性要件,起到规制劳动合同内容的一般条款的作用。该项的规范功能及主要目的在于遏止用人单位在劳动合同中滥用其经济优势地位,过分压制弱势劳动者的行为。作为概括性条款,该项规定的适用应着重案例化、类型化的操作方式;在适用顺序方面,原则上应明确妥当性要件补充适用的地位;可借鉴《合同法》第52条第4项的操作模式,即在妥当性要件下引入法律、行政法规以外的低位阶规范（地方法规、部委规章等）中的强制性规定,作为确认劳动合同效力的依据。     

The Development of Good Practices in Cooperation With the Use of Educational Offer of Academic Centers for Employees of an International Corporation

The paper describes the genesis of the industry＇s needs for training employees whose main purpose is to stimulate ones to be more innovative. Responded to this demand, academic centers helped in the development of training strategies and concepts. The paper brought the closer concepts of training in range and effect that they have brought. An attempt was made to approximations, summary, and evaluation of programs that have been implemented in the framework of academic consortia, among governments founds, academic development, and companies competing in the regional and international telecommunication markets. Analyzed cases of such cooperation, for programs in which several people were involved, as well as beneficiaries of the projects in which were several thousand employees. Efforts made in these programs indicate good practice for those who would like to emulate or improve programs. Experiences that were collected and described in this paper are the ideal start for similar initiatives that may be taken without regard to the scale and location of economic participants.     

REDEMPTION IN THE PRESENCE OF WIDESPREAD CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS*

Criminal background checks have now become ubiquitous because of advances in information technology and growing concerns about employer liability. Also, a large number of individual criminal records have accumulated and have been computerized in state repositories and commercial databases. As a result, many ex‐offenders seeking employment could be haunted by a stale record. Recidivism probability declines with time “clean,” so some point in time is reached when a person with a criminal record, who remained free of further contact with the criminal justice system, is of no greater risk than a counterpart of the same age—an indication of redemption from the mark of crime. Very little information exists on this measure of time until redemption and on how its value varies with the crime type and the offender's age at the time of the earlier event. Using data from a state criminal‐history repository, we estimate the declining hazard of rearrest with time clean. We first estimate a point of redemption as the time when the hazard intersects the age–crime curve, which represents the arrest risk for the general population of the same age. We also estimate another similar redemption point when the declining hazard comes “sufficiently close” to the hazard of those who have never been arrested. We estimate both measures of redemption as a function of the age and the crime type of the earlier arrest. These findings aid in the development of guidelines for the users of background checking and in developing regulations to enhance employment opportunities for ex‐offenders.     

论任意雇佣原则在美国劳动法中的衰落

从19世纪末开始,美国普通法上形成的任意雇佣原则授予雇主任意解雇员工的权力而不要求其承担任何法律责任,对劳动者权利保护甚为不利。考虑到绝对任意雇佣原则所带来的种种消极影响,在许多方面已经不适应现代劳资关系的发展,美国立法机关和各州法院已经形成该原则的多项普通法例外,任意雇佣原则逐步走向衰落。由于任意雇佣原则在美国社会长期实行,拥有深厚的社会基础,动用立法权和司法权等国家权力也并非以废止该原则为目标,因此迄今为止其仍然是调整美国雇佣关系的重要规则。     

EMPLOYMENT AID FOR YOUTH AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE: EXTENDING ONE-STOP CAREER CENTERS TO INCLUDE A DIVISION FOR FOSTER CARE YOUTH

Every year thousands of children are discharged from the foster care system and find themselves ill prepared for the responsibility of adulthood. Providing enhanced employment opportunities to both current and former foster care youth will allow them to become economically self-sufficient and therefore have an improved transition from foster care. This Note proposes that states incorporate a foster youth employment program in the one-stop career centers mandated by the Workforce Investment Act. Through this program, foster youth will be provided with the tools they need for success while maintaining control over their own future.     

企业劳动规章的法律性质辨析——兼评我国企业劳动规章法律制度

通过对有关企业劳动规章法律性质各学说的比较分析,认为企业的经营需要与劳动者的权益保护是决定企业劳动规章法律制度的两个基本因素,故提出“修正的根据二分说”的观点,主张企业劳动规章系由基于劳资双方合意的契约发挥效力部分和基于企业经营管理权产生、法律赋予其约束力的部分构成;进而对我国现行企业劳动规章法律制度,尤其是《劳动合同法》第4条中劳资双方权利失衡问题进行了探讨。     

无固定期限劳动合同“弊端”论之辨析及对策

《劳动合同法》和《劳动合同法实施条例》规定了诸多可以解除无固定期限劳动合同的情形,无固定期限劳动合同不是"铁饭碗";无固定期限劳动合同只是五种形式的合同之一,况且,《劳动合同法》还增加了企业解除合同和裁员的规定,不会导致用工机制僵化;所谓"人力资源成本的增加"实质上是一些违规企业承担了本来就应该承担的义务;《劳动合同法》向劳动者倾斜是实质公平的体现,但并不会因此不保护企业的利益,从长远看,企业和劳动者的利益是一致的。