Labor Markets and Their Many Aspects
The negative aspects of a loosely-regulated labor market:
The dangers of under-regulation
The labor laws of the state of Pennsylvania are still highly influenced by the unionization movement that began in the steel mills of the state. It is said that "no state in America has a richer labor history than Pennsylvania" (Pennsylvania labor history, 2011, IAP). The AFL and CIO were founded in the state. "The 1877 railroad strike, the 1892 battle of Homestead, and the 1919 steel strike" are all nationally famous incidents that were highly influential upon the development of the modern labor movement and remain potent, collective state memories (Pennsylvania labor history, 2011, IAP). However, "the struggle against child labor, sweatshops and oppressive working conditions unfortunately continue today in the global economy. Workers' rights to form unions and collectively bargain, to have a safe and healthful workplace, and to have health care and secure pensions are still contested in this country and around the world" (Pennsylvania labor history, 2011, IAP). While Pennsylvania's laws are more protective of workers than federal labor laws and laws in many states of the union, it is far from exempt from many of the negative workplace trends of the modern era, including outsourcing of critical jobs and a decline in union membership.
Because of its history in the labor rights movement, Pennsylvania has adopted more stringent regulations in many areas of labor law. For example, its child labor laws mandate that 14 and 15-year-olds can only work 3 hours after school and even family businesses are not exempt from child labor laws. "For minors who are 16 and 17, the maximum hours increase to 28 per school week, plus eight hours each on Saturday and Sunday," which is more restrictive than the federal laws governing child labor practices (Nichols 2010). Overtime must be at least 1.5 times the employee's regular pay rate, although most workers can be mandated to work overtime and there are some exemptions, such as workers paid annually rather than by the hour.
Still, unionization...
administered to 50 respondents. The data obtained from these participants was credible for analysis since there were no substantive missing values. The questions were based on a Likert Scale that made it easier for participants to provide their responses and enhance reliability. Data obtained from this instrument was analyzed using descriptive statistics and measures. In this case, the researcher utilized Cross Tabulation analysis and Chi-Square analysis. Participants' Demographics This study had
However, other factors must also be considered. They refer to age, family, education, distance and unemployment. The age factor points out that younger people are more likely to migrate than older workers. This can be explained by the fact that the elderly have fewer years in which to benefit from the migration investment and that they often possess skills valuable for their current employer. The familial forces reveal that the
Other employment prospects in fields such as petty trading, retailing, transportation and domestic service also developed simultaneously in urban areas. In the nineteenth century, when the industrial working class became much larger and more important in the social structure they begin to assert themselves socially, politically and economically, evolving into the social order we see today. Growth of Cities According to Jeffery G. Williamson (1990) Britain grew at an unusually rapid
Labor Market, Unemployment Defining and classifying Unemployment There is a level of unemployment in any economy, which is not automatically a bad thing, as most people would think. The presence of a level of unemployment, which usually is presented as a percentage, indicates that at any one given point in that economy, there are people looking for work and managers looking for better employees. In economics, the only important factor to look
Another concern is represented by the fact that the massive imports from China materialize in cheaper consumer products, which render the domestically produced items less competitive. Other issues include currency fluctuations which impact the fiscal stability of the countries, as well as security concerns, as the Chinese gain more access to American resources (Singh, 2012). 4. Conclusions The economy of the United States is shaped by a wide array of elements,
Similar to product markets, labour markets tend to be characterised by imperfections. The imperfections stem from factors such as monopsony, trade unions, wage discrimination, labour immobility, government interventions, as well as incomplete information on the part of workers (Manning, 2010; Abbritti, Boitami and Damiani, 2012). Indeed, labour markets are persistently imperfectly competitive (Dwivedi, 2010). Imperfections in the labour market often play a significant role in generating unemployment (Baker et al.,
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