1 / 14

Precarious Work in Asia: Introductory Remarks

Arne L. Kalleberg University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chung-Ang University--July 19, 2011. Precarious Work in Asia: Introductory Remarks. Overview. Conceptualizing Precarious Work The Growth of Precarious Work The Importance of Studying Precarious Work Need for Comparative Studies.

isabelle-oconnor
Download Presentation

Precarious Work in Asia: Introductory Remarks

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Arne L. Kalleberg University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chung-Ang University--July 19, 2011 Precarious Work in Asia:Introductory Remarks

  2. Overview • Conceptualizing Precarious Work • The Growth of Precarious Work • The Importance of Studying Precarious Work • Need for Comparative Studies

  3. Precarious Work • Work that is: • Insecure • Uncertain • Risks borne by workers • Limited income and benefits • Little potential for better jobs • Examples: • Temporary work (Formal economy) • Informal economy work

  4. Precarity as Loss(Developed countries) • Loss of: • labor rights historically won by unions and workers’ movements. • stable employment relationships and employment protections due to legalization of temporary, part-time and training contracts. • welfare protections such as health insurance and reductions in unemployment benefits associated with transformations in labor conditions and labor contracts such as: from full-time to part-time, from permanent to temporary jobs, etc.

  5. Standard Employment Relationship • Pillars: • Bilateral Employment Relation • Standardized Hours • Continuous Employment • Psychological Contract • Access to • Regulatory protections • Training • Careers • (Adult Male Citizens)

  6. Macro Changes COUNTRY DIFFERENCES Precarious Work SER Pressures for Greater Flexibility Shift in Employment Norms Employer & State Responses

  7. Polanyi’s “Double Movement” (U.S.) Flexibility Security 1800 Precarious Work Uncertainty 1930 SER > Growth; > Certainty 1975 Precarious Work Uncertainty 2010 A New Social Contract???

  8. Some Nonstandard Employment Relations Org C Contractor Organization A On-Call, Fixed Term Temp Org B

  9. Precarity as Informal Economy • Labor in the InformalSector • Informalself-employed (streetvendors, homeworkers), Informalemployees (domesticworkers), Migrant workers • Informallabor in formal sector (atypicalworkers not protected by regulatoryframework) • THA workers, contractedworkers • De-facto informallabor (formal workers in informaleconomywhohave no powertoobtain the rightstowhcihtheyareentitled) • Workers in developingcountrieswith no union, part-timers (D.O. Chang, 2009)

  10. Family Outcomes Individual Outcomes Economic Insecurity & Inequality Community Outcomes Consequences of Precarious Work Precarious Work COUNTRY DIFFERENCES

  11. Need for Comparative Research • Cross-national studies are necessary in order to: • account for the diversity of precarious work (types of nonstandard work, informal work) • understand impacts of institutions and cultures

  12. Studying Precarious Work in 10 Asian Countries • China • India • Indonesia • Japan • Philippines • South Korea • Sri Lanka • Taiwan • Thailand • Vietnam • More developed countries: • Nonstandard work arrangements (e.g., temporary, contract work) • Less developed countries: • Informal economy

  13. Research Questions • What does “precarious work” mean in the different countries? • What statistics on PW are available? What are the estimates of the extent/trends in PW? • Who is doing research on PW in the country? • Case illustrating the nature of PW in country? • What strategies might reduce PW in country? • Other important information about PW in country?

  14. Goals of the Workshop • Share information about precarious work in the various countries • Develop a common framework for studying precarious work • Identify key issues for comparative analysis • Develop a strategy for moving forward • Set date for next conference, at UNC-Chapel Hill

More Related