A significant amount of literature discusses the changing nature of the social service sector and social work due to neoliberalism. The literature review discusses these neoliberal changes in connection with precarious employment and its’ impact on social work skills, career satisfaction and resistance. A small qualitative study was done, from a feminist and critical perspective, to understand how precarious employment impacts the particular social work skills of: relationship building, advocacy and reflexivity. Also, this study aimed to learn whether or not social workers engaged in activities and discussions to address precarious employment in their organizations and whether the impact of precarious employment on social work skills affected career satisfaction. This data for this study was collected through 5 semi-structured interviews. Participants held a Bachelors in Social work degree and or a Master’s degree with a minimum of one years work experience. Their length of practice ranged from 1 to 14 years, and came from a variety of service sectors. Through the stories participants shared it became evident that precarious employment had a negative impact on participants’ ability to engage in relationship building, reflexivity and advocacy. Also, precarious employment negatively impacted career satisfaction. It also became evident that resistance to precarious employment became difficult; however, participants still resisted through the use of unions and smaller acts of resistance. Findings highlight the need for the social work profession and social work organizations to challenge the neoliberal norm permanent precarious employment and to advocate for standard employment relationships with social workers. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Employer demands for flexible work practices have seen an increase in the diversity of employment relationships illustrated by a global growth of people working in contingent or precarious positions. Increasing evidence suggests that precarious employment is associated with poorer occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes in terms of injury rates, disease risk and psychological wellbeing. This study used a cross sectional survey of 255 employees to compare the OHS experiences of temporary (N = 156, 61.2%) and permanent (N = 99, 38.8%) workers employed in three companies involved in the seasonal processing of primary agriculture products (dairy, meat and produce) in two regions of New Zealand. This research identified a clearly definable group of temporary workers (seasonals), who exhibit different characteristics to those commonly associated with precarious employment as they have an expectation of reasonable lengths of fairly secure employment (seasons exceed eight months). Many respondents only undertook one period of employment per year and were re-engaged in subsequent seasons. There are limited opportunities for alternative employment adjacent to these plants. This creates a dependant employment market, potentially putting labour in a weak bargaining position. This is countered by a high overall level of union membership (N = 181, 71%) and the operation of collective employment contracts. This may be atypical in seasonal industries. Injury numbers were similar (permanent N = 49, 49.5%, temporary N = 73, 46.8%) and serious injuries (permanent N = 23, 23.2%, temporary N = 31, 19.9%). Once a factor was introduced to compensate for exposure time, thereby creating a frequency rate, results showed a statistically significant difference with temporary workers suffering injuries and serious injuries with less exposure than their permanent counterparts (t (193.821) = -5.566, p < 0.05 and (t (236.928) = -2.160, p < 0.05 respectively). There was a significant difference in chronic injuries with permanent employees being more likely to have a chronic injury (F91,253) = 20.456, p<0.05). Most importantly, using the General Linear Model (logistic regression), when all other influences were controlled for, this research found employment status remained influential in determining whether a respondent was injured at work or not.

Employer demands for flexible work practices have seen an increase in the diversity of employment relationships illustrated by a global growth of people working in contingent or precarious positions. Increasing evidence suggests that precarious employment is associated with poorer occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes in terms of injury rates, disease risk and psychological wellbeing. This study used a cross sectional survey of 255 employees to compare the OHS experiences of temporary (N = 156, 61.2%) and permanent (N = 99, 38.8%) workers employed in three companies involved in the seasonal processing of primary agriculture products (dairy, meat and produce) in two regions of New Zealand. This research identified a clearly definable group of temporary workers (seasonals), who exhibit different characteristics to those commonly associated with precarious employment as they have an expectation of reasonable lengths of fairly secure employment (seasons exceed eight months). Many respondents only undertook one period of employment per year and were re-engaged in subsequent seasons. There are limited opportunities for alternative employment adjacent to these plants. This creates a dependant employment market, potentially putting labour in a weak bargaining position. This is countered by a high overall level of union membership (N = 181, 71%) and the operation of collective employment contracts. This may be atypical in seasonal industries. Injury numbers were similar (permanent N = 49, 49.5%, temporary N = 73, 46.8%) and serious injuries (permanent N = 23, 23.2%, temporary N = 31, 19.9%). Once a factor was introduced to compensate for exposure time, thereby creating a frequency rate, results showed a statistically significant difference with temporary workers suffering injuries and serious injuries with less exposure than their permanent counterparts (t (193.821) = -5.566, p < 0.05 and (t (236.928) = -2.160, p < 0.05 respectively). There was a significant difference in chronic injuries with permanent employees being more likely to have a chronic injury (F91,253) = 20.456, p<0.05). Most importantly, using the General Linear Model (logistic regression), when all other influences were controlled for, this research found employment status remained influential in determining whether a respondent was injured at work or not.

The dissertation is composed of four manuscripts, positioned within the field of economic geography. Manuscript one broadly examined how precarious forms of employment (PFEs) are spatially patterned within multiple scales and across a range of geographies. The results suggested that different PFEs exhibited distinct spatial patterns across space and scale. For example, temporary and involuntary part-time work was more prevalent in Atlantic Canada and became gradually less prevalent moving westward. In contrast, part-time employment and employment in multiple jobs were more common in western Canada than in central and Atlantic Canada. The results also confirmed that all PFEs (except for involuntary-part-time work) were more common in rural and small-town areas, and less common in large urban areas. Second, using logistic regression models, results showed that the prevalence of PFEs was reinforced by factors such as immigration status, gender, age, education, and income. These models further confirmed that spatial patterns of PFEs were robust in finer scales i.e. CMAs (census metropolitan areas) and urban/rural geographies even when controlling for socio-demographic and socio-economic effects. Manuscripts two and three builds on the findings in manuscript one by examining how PFEs are spatially patterned across social locations of gender and immigration status, respectively. Results showed that the east-west and urban-rural patterns observed in manuscript one were partially distorted when the analyses were disaggregated by gender and immigration status. The robustness of these spatial distortions was confirmed using logistic regression models. The fourth manuscript sought to understand the spatial characteristics influencing the spatial variations of temporary employment using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models. Key findings revealed that CMA/CAs (census metropolitan areas/census agglomerations) characterized by large shares of manufacturing, utility, and management occupations were significantly negatively associated with temporary employment. Conversely, CMA/CAs with high shares of sales and service occupations were positively associated with temporary employment. Generally, population characteristics (measured by metropolitan areas characterized by a high share of Asian immigrants, low-income earners, and employment insurance beneficiaries) contributed more to explaining positive temporary employment estimates than industry characteristics. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Precarious employment refers to forms of work characterized by limited job security, few employment benefits, lack of control over the labour process and low-wages. Restaurant work demonstrates a range of precarious forms of employment and reveals the complexity of issues that such jobs raise in the context of the regulation of the local labour market. This thesis analyses the nature of precarious employment in the restaurant industry in Kingston, Ontario. In particular, it seeks to understand how precarious employment is shaped by the structure and dynamics of the local labour market. The research highlights the role played by labour mobility, in shaping workers’ experiences of precarious work. Labour mobility refers to the movement of workers between different jobs and between different worksites within a structured local labour market as they seek to better their economic situation and generate a sustainable income for themselves. Through a discussion of labour mobility, this thesis seeks to contribute to a new lens through which the impacts of a precarious and flexible labour market can be better understood as they shape the lives of workers themselves. The objective of this study is to better understand the factors which shape the lived realities of precarious restaurant workers in one specific local labour market. The empirical analysis draws on data collected by Statistics Canada and interviews conducted with both employers and employees in local restaurants to analyze the structure of the local labour market and the nature of precarious employment. The research demonstrates that the restaurant industry in Kingston is comprised of three distinct submarkets, each of which appears to operate largely independently of one another. Interviews were conducted with employees and employers in the submarket located in downtown Kingston. Within this submarket the combined processes of labour market segmentation and labour mobility has a significant impact on workers experiences of precarious employment. By understanding the complex interaction of these two features within the labour market, we can begin to conceive of ways to address the issues associated with the precariously employed in the low-wage service industry. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-23 11:01:41.562

Orientador: Giovanni Antonio Pinto Alves / Banca: Agnaldo dos Santos / Banca: Ângela Maria Carneiro Araújo / Resumo: A presente pesquisa propôs descrever e analisar as condições de trabalho e de vida do jovem empregado comerciário brasileiro. As questões abordadas dizem respeito à problemática da inserção ocupacional do jovem no Brasil. Geralmente, no caso do ramo comerciário, essa inserção representa a experiência do primeiro emprego e, de maneira geral, é marcada pela precariedade salarial e a alta taxa de rotatividade no trabalho. Para abordar esse universo, este estudo parte das vivências e experiências de trabalho sentidas pelos jovens trabalhadores da C&A, empresa de moda que representa uma das principais cadeias internacionais de loja de varejo. A discussão levantada versa entre o debate com a literatura proposta, a análise de trajetórias de vida e de depoimento dos entrevistados. Com isto, busca-se ao longo desta dissertação, dar ênfase tanto às transformações ocorridas sobre o padrão de inserção do jovem no mercado de trabalho brasileiro, como às formas de gestão e organização do trabalho presentes nas lojas da C&A, e, principalmente, à maneira como estas incidem sobre a vida dos jovens comerciários. Neste sentido, a proposta é explorar analiticamente diversos aspectos da vida desses jovens no que tange suas expectativas de futuro, concepções de mundo, anseios pessoais, as suas relações familiares e de amizade, o valor conferido à educação, bem como os impactos do trabalho no desenvolvimento das relações pessoais e na saúde. A investigação foi conduzida a partir da revisão bibliogr... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present research proposes to describe and analyze the working and living conditions of young Brazilian commerce workers. The questions that guide this research are related to the challenging insertion of young Brazilians in the labor market. Generally, in the case of the commerce sector, this insertion represents the experience of their first job, and, in general, is marked by a precarious wage and high rate of turnover at work. In order to approach this, the study starts from in the experiences at work reported by the youth workers of C&A, which is one of the main international chains of fashion retail. The argument is built with specific literature on that regard, the analysis of young workers details as well as the testimony of those interviewed. Through this dissertation, it is sought to emphasize both transformations that have occurred on the pattern of labor market insertion for young Brazilians, and forms of labor management and organization present at C&A stores, especially how that affects the lives of the young commerce workers. In that sense, the propose to explore analytically various aspects of the lives of these young people in terms of their future expectations, world views, personal yearnings, family relationships and friendships, the value given to education, as well as the impacts of labor in the development of personal relationships and in health. The research was conducted from bibliographic review, consultation and analysis of secondary sources, data ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This thesis begins by revisiting and building on themes of labour market segmentation, with particular reference given to Marx's seminal account of segmentation in Capital, Vol.1 (Chapter 25). Marx distinguishes between an active army - the stable full-time employed - and the relative surplus population - the precariously employed reserve army and the residual surplus - and suggests further fragmentation of these main groups into sub-strata. Marx's perspective of segmentation is grounded in fragments of a general theory of employment that, as a long-term tendency, identifies continual advances in constant capital that abolish work and proliferate the reserve army. This thesis builds on these themes by formulating a concept, the 'transference dynamic', which underpins a general theory of employment segmentation. A short history of segmentation under capitalism traces recent phases of development in both developed and lesser-developed nations. Stress is placed on the role of political configurations that regulate capitalism in ways that can either counter the general tendency, such is the case under the Fordist model of capitalism, or strengthen its logic. The theory of employment segmentation and the lessons drawn from the historical account are spliced together with an analysis of the contemporary phase of capitalism, labelled here as the neoliberal model of development. It is demonstrated that the coercive international regulatory dynamic of the neoliberal model reasserts and extends the competitive principle of the capitalist mode of production. Through this extension, nations are transformed into competition-states vying for scarce and globally mobile capital to operate on their shores - the primary source of national prosperity and employment - by implementing capital-friendly neoliberalized policy. This analysis of neoliberal global capitalism reveals an expanding surplus population within a context of deepening international segmentation. This employment crisis is expressed as a hierarchy of nations that is determined in part by their uneven development. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy, comprising a majority portion of the world's population, contain a massive reserve army and residual surplus population unincorporated into wage-based capitalism, without any obvious support of means of life and with little hope for the future. Finally, mainstream solutions are criticized for failing to address either long-run or contemporary drivers of the employment crisis. In response, this thesis pitches a project of multi-faceted radical reform that counter-regulates capitalism by adopting a combination of local, national, regional and global forms of democratic socialist governance.

This thesis focuses on one of the most appreciated products of the Turkish Television, the TV Series&#039 / production and labor process. Starting from the fact that the production side of this highly attention gathering media product hasn&#039 / t received too much academic concern, by analyzing the workers of the sector, this point is tried to be illuminated. This thesis that analyzes TV series&#039 / working conditions in the perspective of &ldquo / precarious employment&rdquo / departing from this framework, argues the workers of the industry are fragmented into two groups, &ldquo / creative&rdquo / and &ldquo / technical&rdquo / workers. In this context it indicates the creative workers not only as not being affected from the precarious employment conditions too much but also as the executor of the technical workers&#039 / experience of precariousness in the production level.

Although evidence of health inequities abound, why people in lower socio-economic classes have poorer health has not been sufficiently explored. The purpose of this study is to examine day labourers’ pathways to health inequities in a segregated, urban district in Japan. Critical ethnography was employed to investigate day labourers’ social environments and cultural behaviours in order to reveal the ways that social inequalities embedded in mainstream society and the day labourers’ sub-culture produce and sustain day labourers’ disadvantages, leading them into poorer health than the average population. Data were collected through observations of day labourer’s daily activities, events within the district and their interactions with social workers at a hospital. In addition, interviews were conducted with 16 day labourers and 11 professionals and advocates. The study found several components in the pathways to health inequities of day labourers. First, certain people in Japan are ostracized from the social, economic and political mainstream due to an inability to enact traditional Japanese labour practices. Commonly such exclusions make men become day labourers to survive. In a day labourer district, they are exposed to further social inequalities embedded in the work system and their living circumstance. Living and working as a member of the day labour community, they develop collective strategies in order to survive and preserve their social identities as day labourers. However, such strategies do not provide people with opportunities to lead healthy lives. The study also identified several social determinants of health for day labourers, including: 1) employment, 2) working conditions, 3) temporary living, 4) housing quality, 5) social networks and support, 6) marginalized neighbourhood, 7) access to health care, and 8) gender. The findings contribute to a better understanding of social construction of health inequities, which provides insight on the impact of precarious work in the Japanese society at large. Implications of these findings for public health policy and practice are also discussed.

Although evidence of health inequities abound, why people in lower socio-economic classes have poorer health has not been sufficiently explored. The purpose of this study is to examine day labourers’ pathways to health inequities in a segregated, urban district in Japan. Critical ethnography was employed to investigate day labourers’ social environments and cultural behaviours in order to reveal the ways that social inequalities embedded in mainstream society and the day labourers’ sub-culture produce and sustain day labourers’ disadvantages, leading them into poorer health than the average population. Data were collected through observations of day labourer’s daily activities, events within the district and their interactions with social workers at a hospital. In addition, interviews were conducted with 16 day labourers and 11 professionals and advocates. The study found several components in the pathways to health inequities of day labourers. First, certain people in Japan are ostracized from the social, economic and political mainstream due to an inability to enact traditional Japanese labour practices. Commonly such exclusions make men become day labourers to survive. In a day labourer district, they are exposed to further social inequalities embedded in the work system and their living circumstance. Living and working as a member of the day labour community, they develop collective strategies in order to survive and preserve their social identities as day labourers. However, such strategies do not provide people with opportunities to lead healthy lives. The study also identified several social determinants of health for day labourers, including: 1) employment, 2) working conditions, 3) temporary living, 4) housing quality, 5) social networks and support, 6) marginalized neighbourhood, 7) access to health care, and 8) gender. The findings contribute to a better understanding of social construction of health inequities, which provides insight on the impact of precarious work in the Japanese society at large. Implications of these findings for public health policy and practice are also discussed.