Professional workers are the core value contributors to an enterprise in today¡¦s highly competitive environment of knowledge economy. Under the pressure of global competition, employment flexibility is an unavoidable trend. Contract workers with professional background have been growing rapidly in recent years, and it has been regarded as a competitive strategy to integrate corporate resources to enhance business performance. While more and more enterprises are adopting flexibility strategies as well as utilizing different types of contingent employment to replace traditional long-term employment, the other existing employees not only have to face the changes of employment relationships, but also have to get used to cope with lots of contract-based professionals working in the organization. The purpose of this research is to understand different cognition, attitude and behaviors from the professionals under different employment relationships, as well as the way they interact, while the organization is adopting the human resource strategy of numerical flexibility. The information was collected and analyzed based on qualitative research method and used the professional workers as sampling, including one regular employee and one contractor for every comparative pair. There are total twenty-four professionals from four leading global high-tech companies were interviewed. The result shows that both the regular and contract-based professionals recognized the employment flexibility strategy negatively, and believed that it¡¦s mainly for reducing employment cost only, which might reflected the short-term benefit, but would cause the negative impact on the organization¡¦s performance in the long run. The implementations of differentiated treatments to different employment models caused disagreement from the workers who had expected their employers to provide a fair working environment, sufficient human capital investment and stable career development in the organization. The findings are, a respecting and open-minded organizational culture, a fair workplace, proper contingent employment proportion, and supportive management are the key factors to facilitate the positive interaction among professionals under different employment relationships. Moreover, professional workers have higher motivation and take into account the importance of personal performance, therefore, regular employee will invest personal resources to solve problems from interacting with contract professionals in order to achieve tasks. Meanwhile, the contract professionals are affected by occupational commitment as well as their intention to extend employment contract in the future. Employment status does not influence their performance, however, reduction of unfair treatments regarding human resource practices will motivate their willingness on organizational citizenship behavior and performance improvement.

This thesis begins with the economic globalization, and uses secondary data analysis to explore the labor structural change and employment conditions in Taiwan under globalization. Then, using the social exclusion theory, through qualitative in-depth interview methods, this study explores the unemployment and re-employment experiences of the long-term unemployed and the marginally employed, as well as the economic, psychological, and social network exclusion in the process of employment to unemployment. This study also discusses the roles of government employment policies, familial and social relationship networks. Finally, policy suggestions are proposed according to related research discoveries. The study finds that: first, in terms of unemployment and re-employment experience, most laborers regard unemployment with a passive and external attribution attitude; this negatively influences emotions, interpersonal relationships, and later re-employment. While unable to return to the original career, unemployed laborers develop different life choices. Those who return to the labor market the earliest return because they succumb to economic pressure, becoming marginal workers who are willing to do any work, and the other kind are those who are continuously accumulate capital and convert it into employment resource; these are the active workers. On the other hand, there are two types of people who remain unemployed. One is the type that becomes waiting unemployed because they are unwilling to budge on employment conditions, and the other is the type that is limited by their own employment abilities and become helplessly unemployed. Additionally, unemployed people with different identities also have different life choices at their inability to return to their original careers. Secondly, from labor market exclusion to social exclusion: 1.Labor market exclusion and economic exclusion: unemployment results in decreased income, which further impairs daily living needs, basic medical care, and educational services, as well as stops one from participating in entertainment and leisure activities; these impact basic life opportunities and makes one feel more and more exclusion. 2. Labor market exclusion and psychological exclusion: emotional changes during unemployment are primarily affected by decreased income, but it is also affected by personal expectations of future re-employment. For the involuntarily unemployed, they feel a greater sense of lack of control and impotence over their lives. 3. Labor market exclusion and social relationship exclusion: as a result of lack of self esteem or economic considerations, the unemployed have significantly less social interaction, in a singularized network structure, which would provide relatively smaller economic or re-employment support. 4. Social networks have a positive influence on alleviating the multifaceted exclusion caused by unemployment, but the majority of unemployment laborers have significantly insufficient social network functions. Those who are unemployed with weak formal and informal social networks would fall into social exclusion, have a bleak outlook on the future and believe that there is no chance to extricate oneself from the various unfavorable situations caused by unemployment. ¡@¡@The end of the thesis also discusses some related issues, such as the unemployment issue (unemployment conceptualization? Who are the unemployed? Work or retire?), social exclusion issues (applicability of social exclusion theories? what is the role of the country in labor market exclusion? Does the employment policy cause social cohesion or social exclusion?), social structures, and individual action interactions. Finally, from labor market intervention, construction to social network, and proposes related policy suggestions to reverse social exclusion.

Due to the prevalence of transnational marriages, the issues related to foreign spouses have become a focus of the government, a wide variety of related organizations, media and academia in Taiwan. Some people within these groups mentioned that the relevant issues were, in fact, over discussed. Actually, according to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, before the Interview System was established in 2004, transnational marriages were only 31.39% in 2003; most of the immigrants were foreign spouses (mainly females). The numbers were higher than those of foreign laborers, and even higher than the total numbers of aboriginal peoples. The foreign spouses have become the fourth group in Taiwan. As a result, studies on female immigrants are worthy of research. There has been less research concerning employment rights and demands, and in particular there¡¦s almost no quantification study. Because of the difficulties in determining vocabulary designed for the questionnaires and interviews with the foreign spouses, the employment demands can only be studied after receiving assistance from the related sections/departments of Kaohsiung County. The study aims to understand the professional trainings and employment demands of female immigrants as well as the remuneration, work hours and humiliation in Taiwan. Based on the collected literature reviews and the workshops on employment promotion, their work experiences and language preferences were understood. Surveys were carried out by 28 counselors of the Veterans Affairs Commission and the study subjects were foreign spouses in the 27 villages/townships of Kaohsiung County. Interviews were held at the Immigration Service Center of Kaohsiung County, and foreign spouses from China were excluded. 1180 questionnaires were sent and 932 were received. Valid questionnaires were 900. The study result shows that: there¡¦s significant influence of age, education level, number of children and husbands on the employment demands. 50% of the foreign spouses from China cannot write Chinese, the official language in Taiwan. Many of them have no knowledge that there are professional training and employment provided by the Service Center; there are no preferred training classes arranged by the Center in which they can participate, such as babysitter training. The present trainings were often merely cooking and housework courses. Regarding the humiliation their reaction is quite diverse; either it is absolutely agreed or disagreed with. Transportation is also a main problem. Almost all foreign spouses have a heavier workload in housework than the ordinary Taiwanese housewives. They work more than 8 hours a day and receive less remuneration. Proposals: (1) foreign spouses from China or Southeast Asia should be separated in the related researches; (2) foreign spouses from China should be differentiated between wife of veteran or non-veteran; the variation of their education level and age should be analyzed; (3) a Simplified Chinese should be designed for the foreign spouses from China; (4) try to avoid the humiliation; particularly the labor condition that is worse than the condition regulated in the Labor Law; (5) encourage enterprises to pick up the workers from home to the company in order to solve the problem of transportation; (6) open babysitter or nursing classes so that the care quality can be enhanced; if the related professional trainings can be continued, the lack of man power problem can be solved and (7) according to the Employment Services Act issued by the Ministry of the Interior that relates to courses lasting for 18 hours: the participants are mostly females at middle age or older; participating in courses is free of charge; and a living allowance can be applied for. But in the questionnaire, it indicated that a participating fee would be charged.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Växjö : Växjö universitet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Not available / text

This dissertation explores issues on women’s employment and children’s health in economics. In chapter I, I investigate the causal effects of maternal employment on childhood obesity. Empirical analysis of the effects of maternal employment on childhood obesity is complicated by the endogeneity of mother’s labor supply. A mother’s decision to work likely reflects underlying factors – such as ability and motivation – that could directly influence child health outcomes. To address this concern, this study implements an instrumental variables (IV) strategy which utilizes exogenous variation in maternal employment coming from the youngest sibling’s school eligibility. With data on children ages 7-17 from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth linked to the Child Supplement, I explore the effects of maternal employment on children’s BMI z-score and probabilities of being overweight and obese. OLS estimates indicate a moderate association, consistent with the prior literature. However, the IV estimates show that an increase in mothers’ labor supply leads to large weight gains among children, suggesting that not addressing the endogeneity of maternal employment leads to underestimated causal effects. Chapter II examines the effects of Walmart Supercenters on household and child food insecurity. Walmart Supercenters may reduce food insecurity by lowering food prices and expanding food availability. Our food insecurity-related outcomes come from the 2001-2007 waves of the December Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement. We match these data to our hand-collected data of Walmart Supercenters at the census tract-level. First, we estimate a naïve linear probability model and find that households and children who live near Walmart Supercenters are more likely than others to be food insecure. Since the location of Walmart Supercenters might be endogenous, we then turn to instrumental variables models that utilize the predictable geographic expansion patterns of Walmart Supercenters outward from Walmart’s corporate headquarters. The IV estimates suggest that the causal effect of Walmart Supercenters is to reduce food insecurity among households and children. The effect is largest among low-income families. In the third paper, I investigate the effects of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on women’s labor market outcomes. The FMLA is a federal policy that aims to help workers balance job and family responsibilities. However, it may have unintended consequences on employment because it imposes costs on firms. In this study, I investigate the impact of the FMLA with labor market flows—i.e., hires, separations and recalls. Focusing on labor market flow outcomes is crucial to identifying the immediate impact of the policy because employment and wages adjust slowly when there is a policy change while labor market flows are flexible. Using data from the Quarterly Workforce Indicators and adopting a triple-difference model, I get results that are unlikely to be interpreted as causal because the data are insufficient to obtain precise estimates. However, the idea of using labor market flows can be easily applied to a broad range of topics relate to workplace mandates.

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

In recent years much has been made of active and productive ageing policies, with the attempt to promote a more positive image of ageing. Despite this, negative representations of ageing and conceptualisations of older people as a ‘burden’ persist. This thesis presents an argument that these negative images are intertwined with common understandings of work, the frequent equating of this to paid employment within the field of social gerontology, and the reliance upon cessation of work in determining the beginning of old age. With reference to the wider literature in the sociology of work, an argument is presented that determines why it is essential to challenge those taken-for-granted assumptions about older people and work. Reflecting upon the findings from an exploratory and qualitative research project, which focuses upon the perspective of the older people themselves, attention is given to the detail of what should be encapsulated into new understandings of work. Within the thesis it is argued that there are many activities undertaken by the older person, which should be thought of as work, including (but not limited to) paid employment, volunteering, care, attendance at social clubs, undertaking sport and physical activity. Some of these activities might more intuitively be thought of as acts of leisure. However, it is evidenced within this thesis that there are fuzzy and blurred boundaries between leisure and work - older people leisure at work and work at leisure. The recognition of these blurring boundaries is one aspect that must be incorporated into re-conceptualisations of work. The thesis demonstrates how the work of older people transcends different socio-economic spheres and there are multiple interrelations existing between different activities. Whilst this last point resonates with the approach of some authors in the sociology of work, they have never been incorporated within the field of social gerontology. Through this analysis, and promoting a new way through which the activities of older people might be incorporated within the rubric of work, it is hoped that ageism might be challenged in a similar vein to the way in which feminist researchers once challenged sexism in relation to work and housework. This thesis reflects upon how we need to identify and conceptualise the third age in light of the findings. It highlights how the working lives of older people are shaped through a process of negotiation between social expectations within current political and economic contexts, influences from key historical events and social changes, and the desire for freedom, autonomy and choice. Age period cohort is crucial in determining the world of work, and more generally how ageing might be experienced. Through its unique approach, and the lessons learnt within this thesis, a theoretical framework is provided to assist in future comprehensive studies of both work and ageing. Overall, this thesis makes significant contributions to understandings of work and ageing following the consideration of two schools of thought (i.e. sociology of work and social gerontology), which previously have been infrequent companions.