Thesis advisor: Can Erbil / Violence against women and subsequent gender-based violence are issues that plague the world, harming women’s wellbeing as well as that of their families. Thirty-nine percent and twenty-one percent of Kenyan women have experienced physical and sexual violence, respectively, in their lifetimes. While there have been contested studies showing that employment can both increase and decrease the risk of suffering from violence, particularly in domestic settings, this study examines how a Kenyan woman’s experience of violence is likely to affect her level (formal or informal) of employment in the future. The results of this study indicate that emotional abuse, having a partner that drinks, educational attainment, living in a rural setting, and age are significant factors in a woman’s probability of working. Conditioned on working, experiencing controlling behaviors from a partner, educational attainment, justification of violence, ethnicity, income rank, partner’s occupation, and age at first marriage influence a woman’s probability of working informally. These results vary based on the type of employment studied, but can have wide-ranging consequences for the economic development of Kenya and empowerment of Kenyan women. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’analyser des effets du salaire minimum en Turquie où le salaire minimum est un instrument de politique sociale essentiel. Cette thèse s’articule autour de quatre chapitres : Le premier chapitre présente les institutions du salaire minimum et les principaux résultats obtenus dans la littérature concernant les divers effets du salaire minimum sur les différentes variables économiques et sociales dans les pays en développement. Le deuxième chapitre identifie empiriquement le profil des salariés payés au salaire minimum. Les résultats indiquent que la probabilité d’être rémunéré au salaire minimum est élevée parmi la population considérée comme « fragile ». Le troisième chapitre examine les effets du salaire minimum sur l’emploi dans le cadre de la demande et de l’offre du travail et montre que le salaire minimum n’a pas d’impact négatif sur l’emploi. Par ailleurs, une hausse du salaire minimum exerce un effet positif sur la probabilité de rester en emploi. Le dernier chapitre étudie l’évolution de la distribution des salaires au cours de la dernière décennie en Turquie. Les résultats indiquent que la hausse du salaire minimum en 2004 a contribué à réduire les inégalités salariales. / Minimum wage is an important tool of social policy. It consists of four chapters: The first chapter presents the institutions of the minimum wage and the main results in the literature concerning the effects of minimum wages on the various economic and social variables in developing countries. The second chapter identifies empirically the profile of workers paid at minimum wage. The results indicate that the probability of receiving the minimum wage is high among the groups considered "fragile". The third chapter examines the impact of the minimum wage on employment in the context of demand and supply of labor and shows that the minimum wage has no negative impact on employment. Besides, a minimum wage increase has a positive effect on the probability of remaining employed. The last chapter analyzes the evolution of the wage distribution over the last decade in Turkey. The results show that the minimum wage increase in 2004 contributed to reduce wage inequality in this country.

This thesis examines the life-cycle profile of informal employment in Turkey. To achieve this goal cohort analysis technique and 2000-2007 Household Labor Force Survey micro level data of State Institute of Statistics is used. Informal sector is composed of people working without social security coverage due to their current jobs. Analyzes are conducted both for the total sample and six education groups separately. Besides informal employment, labor force participation and unemployment rates are also examined and using these variables net transitions between the sectors over the life-cycle are tired to be observed. According to the results / informal employment rate decreases at young ages, relatively stable at middle ages and then increases rapidly at older ages. Moreover, strong cohort effects are found in many variables and the cross section profiles differ from the true life-cycle profiles remarkably.

Informality has been a widespread fact in most of developing countries. Especially after the implementation of liberalization policies in the 1980s, informal sector has expanded, and informal employment has been more attractive in the Turkish economy. The aim of this thesis is to examine whether there is wage gap between formal and informal employment in Turkey for the years 2007 and 2008. In order to test if the determinants of wages are different, selection corrected wage equations are estimated for manufacturing and service sectors for men and women separately by using the Household Labor Force Survey micro level data of TURKSTAT. We also estimated Multinomial Logit model in order to be able to take the sector selection process into account. According to our estimation results, there was a significant wage gap between formal and informal employment in Turkey for the years 2007 and 2008, even after controlling for a number of individual-specific characteristics. This indicates the existence of the segmented labor market in terms of wages in Turkey, as it is asserted by the number of researchers arguing against the neo-classical labor market theory.

Submitted by Geyciane Santos (geyciane_thamires@hotmail.com) on 2015-10-29T15:12:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Anderson Lincoln Vital da Silva.pdf: 1757161 bytes, checksum: be3dfc309aa1540f341d401b53628c48 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-11-05T18:55:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Anderson Lincoln Vital da Silva.pdf: 1757161 bytes, checksum: be3dfc309aa1540f341d401b53628c48 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-11-05T19:20:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Anderson Lincoln Vital da Silva.pdf: 1757161 bytes, checksum: be3dfc309aa1540f341d401b53628c48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-05T19:20:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Anderson Lincoln Vital da Silva.pdf: 1757161 bytes, checksum: be3dfc309aa1540f341d401b53628c48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-13 / Não informada / This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of motorcycle taxi drivers in the city of Manaus - AM on environmental health and the risks of their continued exposure to environmental elements. The research sought to describe the socioeconomic profile of these workers enabling discuss the relationship between town and work while conditioning the income and working conditions and also highlights the subjectivities in relation to environmental health through daily activities. The motorcycle taxi drivers express their perceptions of environmental risks and psychosocial health relating to the performance of its functions and raise environmental protection measures that these workers consider necessary. The interviewed were workers linked to the Cooperative of Manaus City motorcycle taxi drivers with at least two years of qualification in the respective category. Information was obtained from semi-structured interview that was applied to 25 workers (all men) in their operations bases (standby local users). Information were analyzed according to the content analysis technique proposed by Bardin (1997). The results show that participants are young adults, mostly in the age group 20-40 years old, completed high school, single, however they have children. About working hours, 64% of these, has a journey of up to twelve hours a day, as a salary of approximately R$ 2,000.00 monthly, and despite the legal requirement of their contribution to the INSS, only 20% of them make the contribution. To exercise the profession, they have to have a list of equipment required by law, but usually the only thing they have is the helmet; this increases the risk of their activity, not only for themselves and also the lives of their passengers, because they do prohibited maneuvers to save time. Due to their work conditions, streets, traffic, are exposed to an extensive working hours, alternating climate, fatigue and violence on traffic. So, despite recognizing the advantages of self-employment (freedom of hierarchical authority, daily financial gain, low investment on your motorcycle), they do not indicate this profession for their children. However, they realize that “mototaxismo” activity is a consequence of socioeconomic status because of unemployment, low education, and also the low investment to acquire the motorcycle; leading to many people to became motorcycle taxi drivers to provide for themselves, despite the risks inherent in it. / O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar as percepções dos mototaxistas na cidade de Manaus-AM em relação à saúde ambiental e aos riscos a partir do seu trabalho de exposição constante às intempéries ambientais. A pesquisa buscou delinear o perfil socioeconômico desses trabalhadores, possibilitando discutir a relação cidade e trabalho, enquanto condicionantes à renda e condições laborais além de evidenciar as subjetivações em relação à saúde ambiental a partir das atividades cotidianas. De modo especial, os mototaxistas expressam suas percepções sobre riscos ambientais e saúde psicossocial relacionando ao desempenho de suas funções, e suscitam medidas de proteção socioambiental que esses trabalhadores consideram necessárias. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram trabalhadores vinculados à Cooperativa dos Mototaxistas da Cidade de Manaus com no mínimo dois anos de habilitação na respectiva categoria. Os dados foram obtidos a partir de entrevista semiestruturada que foi aplicada a 25 trabalhadores (todos homens) em suas bases de atuação (locais de espera dos usuários). Os dados foram analisados segundo a técnica da análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin (1997). Os resultados obtidos demonstram que os participantes são adultos jovens, em sua maioria, na faixa etária de 20 a 40 anos de idade, com ensino médio completo, solteiros, porém com filhos. Quanto à jornada de trabalho, 64% destes têm uma jornada de até doze horas diárias, para obter um ganho na faixa de R$ 2.000,00 mensais, e apesar da exigência legal de sua contribuição para o INSS, apenas 20% destes o fazem. No exercício de sua profissão, são exigidos equipamentos obrigatórios, porém o único que todos eles possuem é o capacete; o que aumenta o risco de sua atividade, não somente para si e seus passageiros, pois realizam manobras arriscadas no trânsito para ganhar tempo. Devido às condições de seu trabalho, as ruas e o trânsito, são expostos a uma extensa jornada de trabalho, alternância climática, fadiga e violência do trânsito. Por isso, apesar de reconhecerem as vantagens do trabalho autônomo (liberdade de autoridade hierárquica, ganho financeiro diário, baixo investimento em sua motocicleta), não indicariam esta profissão para seus filhos. Deste modo, percebem que a atividade do mototaxismo é consequência da situação socioeconômica marcada pelo desemprego, baixa escolaridade, aliada ao baixo investimento para aquisição da motocicleta; a qual levou a vislumbrarem nesta profissão o meio para sustento próprio, apesar dos riscos inerentes a ela.

The impact of labor market insecurity on immigrants’ mental health is understudied. This current study investigated whether labor market insecurity, as measured by different employment arrangements, has detrimental impact on immigrants’ depression, and if so, how it compares to the role of unemployment. Furthermore, this study investigated whether labor market insecurity had more detrimental impact on immigrants than non-immigrants. To do so, data from seventh wave of European Social Survey (2014/2015) was divided into three separate immigrant groups; first-generation immigrants, second-generation immigrants and non-immigrants. The results shows that labor market insecurity among immigrants had detrimental impact on mental health. The effects were not restricted to the first- generation immigrants’ mental health, they could also be observed in the second-generation immigrants and among non-immigrants. The results presented in this thesis show that not only unemployment, but also insecure employment arrangement have negative impact on mental health, both among immigrants and non-immigrants.

As a unique form of rural-urban transition settlement in China’s rapid urbanization process, the “urban village” plays a very distinctive part in promoting urbanization, being a transit point for many rural people entering urban areas. The term “informal employment migrants” usually refers to those people, who have no formal employment status and work in informal, low-skilled, low-paying jobs in the city. These people often have no stable job security or social protection, facing problems with housing, education and healthcare, as well as a lack of social interaction and cultural and recreational activities, etc. They are the main force in the industry, promoting urban development and securing the service base, while having little power in terms of economic ability and social status.  The rights and interests of the millions of these non-local residents living and working in urban villages, are very important aspects but are usually overlooked by current planning instruments. In the daily life of an urban village, such as Kangle village, not only do the profits from the rental of collective land and property village-owned enterprises benefit only the household residents of the village, but the organization and participation in any public activities within the village have nothing to do with the tenants. As a result, these migrant tenants, who have come to Guangzhou to make a living in the case of this project, are mere outsiders in terms of the distribution of benefits or the share of spiritual entertainment in the urban village. As outsiders, they are often the most affected by the regeneration, the most opposed to it and suffer most directly from its benefits, however, have the weakest voice in the planning progress. Therefore, in urban regeneration planning, we planners should pay more attention to the existence and living needs of these informal employment migrants, provide them with better living and working conditions, improve their quality of life, and promote the equal development of urban society.

L'emploi informel est devenu un sérieux défi pour l'économie ukrainienne et des pays en transition au cours de l'adaptation aux conditions du marché. La tendance du nombre de travailleurs qui participent au secteur informel est en hausse depuis les dernières années. Dans mes recherches, je vais présenter l'état actuel de l'emploi informel en Ukraine et les pays en transition. Une attention particulière est accordée à la répartition du travail entre les différentes catégories de population, en divisant les individus en cinq catégories (employés formels, employés informels, travailleurs indépendants formels, travailleurs indépendants informels et chômeurs) selon la définition de l'emploi informel de l'OIT. Nous examinons le marché du travail en utilisant les données de Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey pour l'Ukraine et Survey on Living and Income Conditions pour les pays en transition et nous élaborons la fonction des gains du capital humain pour le marché du travail en appliquant la fonction de répartition des gains de Mincer, afin d'étudier les facteurs qui déterminent les revenus et le choix de l'emploi de l'individu en Ukraine et les pays en transition. / Informal employment became a serious challenge for the Ukrainian economy and economy of transition countries during the adjustment to market conditions. Trends of the number of workers participating in the informal sector have been rising for the last years. In my research I will present the current state of informal employment of Ukraine and transition countries. Detailed attention is paid to labour distribution across different population categories by dividing the individuals into five categories (formal employee, informal employee, formal self-employed, informal self-employed and unemployed) following the definition of informal employment from the ILO. We examine labour market using the data of the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for Ukraine and the Survey on Living and Income Conditions for transition countries and we design human capital earnings function for labour market by applying Mincer earnings distribution function in order to investigate the factors that determine the individual’s earnings and choice of the employment status both for Ukraine and transition countries.

This thesis argues the interaction between the Turkish state and informal employment. Literature review on informal sector, flexibilization of the labor market and feminist approach are the bases of this argument. On the other hand, the role of the state in economy is discussed in relation to Bretton Woods Institutions. Taking into consideration the state and informal employment arguments, this study illustrates with a study of a Kilim Weaving Workshop in a town of Ankara how informal work is connected with the state institution Public Education Center. For this study, I conducted participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 10 people out of 30 in research area.

This thesis investigates the nature, extent and dynamics of informal employment in the Turkish labor market using 2006-2009 Turkish Income and Living Conditions Survey. It is mainly a collection of three essays. In the first essay, an attempt is made to analyze the relevance and implications of three alternative characterizations of informality which include an enterprise-based definition associating informality with small firms, an extended enterprise-based definition incorporating social security protection, and a definition based exclusively on social security coverage. Using probit analysis, we show that social security criterion is the best measure given its ability to capture key relationships between individual characteristics and informality. In the second essay, we compute Markov transition probabilities of individuals moving across six labor market states, then estimate multinomial logit regressions to identify underlying dynamics of variant mobility patterns. Confirming traditional theory which sees formal employment as the ultimate desirable state, we find that formal-salaried individuals are the most reluctant to move and that the probability of transition from informal-salaried state to formal-salaried state is five times that of reverse transition. In the third essay, we examine formal/informal employment earnings differentials. OLS estimation of standard Mincerian equations reveals an informal penalty, half of which can be explained by observable characteristics. Moreover, applying fixed effects regressions, we show that unobserved individual fixed effects when combined with controls for observable individual and employment characteristics explain the pay differentials entirely.