Summaries
Labour market and flexibility R. Dekker en R. Dorenbos
We analyze three types of flexible labour by personal characteristics (gender, age and level of education) and its division by occupation and branche of industry. The three types are part-time work in small jobs, specific flexible work |e.g. by private employment agencies) and temporary jobs.
Almost 18% of the working population (wor king at least one hour a week) works in one of these forms of flexible labour.
As expected we find that persons who hold weak labour market positions: women, young people and low-educated workers are overre presented in flexible jobs. However, we also find a relative large group of temporary wor kers with a universitary degree. With respect to occupational and branche structure we find large shares of flexible workers in lower occupations and in tertiary services, especially in retail trade and in hotel and catering indus try. In contrast with our expectations the de gree of flexible work is rather low in the indus trial sectors and rather high in (semi-)public services.
Job competition on the Dutch labour market A. Hoek en L. Groot
To what extent job competition and displace ment of lower educated by higher educated pre vails is still a matter of great controversy in the economic literature. In this article we discuss the explanatory power of two competing theo ries of the labour market, the job competition theory and the human capital theory respecti vely. By means of two fictitious economies we are able to illustrate clearly both theories' ma jor implications in case of a rise in the educati onal level of the labour force. Existent empiri
cal research concerning job competition and displacement for the Netherlands shows ambiguous results. Our empirical findings show that job competition and displacement occurs in the labour market for intermediate vocational workers.
Women's employment and child care. A joint analysis for mothers of preschool children L. van Dijk en C. Remery
Work and child care decisions of mothers with preschool children are often studied sepa rately. In this article, choices of level of em ployment and child care arrangements are considered to be linked. The analysis is based on data of 354 married or cohabiting mothers with at least one preschooler. The results show that especially mothers who combine a large job with market care differ from non-working mothers. These women are more likely to have less children, a higher potential wage rate, and less traditional ideas on child care. Moreover, these women have more possibilities to use market care and less possibilities to use non- market care. Implications of the results for the emancipation policy of the Dutch government are discussed. Extending possibilities for men to work part-time seems a better strategy to re alize the goals of this policy than providing more child care facilities.
New production concepts in the main proces sing fields
L. Sels
In this contribution, we comment on some re sults of the Belgian Trend Study. The intention of this study was to examine the prevalence of new production concepts within the widest possible range of companies in the automobile, the machine-tool, the chemical and the clo
Summaries thing industries. TheTrend Study aimed to ans
wer the question whether theTaylorist division of labour is a thing of the past and whether shifts in the division of labour are accompa nied by another type of personnel policy. The methodological concept used had to guarantee that the findings at the level of each industry could be generalized. Although a brief compa rison with the evolutions in the three other branches is built in, we restrict ourselves main ly to an examination of the penetration of new production concepts in the main processing fields of the machine-tool industry.
Rationalization in the building industry H. Voordijk
Characteristics of site-based production in the building industry are 'external variability' (the heterogeneous nature of products) and 'inter nal variability' (the variation in the quantity of labour required at different stages in the production process). The transition of the buil ding industry from a suppliers into a buyers market has resulted in an increase of external variability and a demand for integrated logis tics management. Integrated logistics is partly realized by using new information technolo gies. A rationalization of labour (formalization and substitution) results. The increased exter nal variability is answered by a transfer of variability to other parties, a reduction of the variability by standardisation of building com ponents and an integration of the variability by implementing autonomous building teams on site. Two scenario's result. Information technology in combination with préfabrication
of building materials strengthens the Tayloris- tic mode of production. Subcontracting and the internalization of variability result in team production on the building site. This socio- technical way of production exists besides the Tayloristic mode of production.
Benefit-cost analysis of the Netherlands' Social employment program
S.5. Nandram
This paper provides a benefit-cost analysis of the Netherlands' Social employment program (SW). The government provides the SW-compa- nies for each disabled employee a subsidy of 44.000,- guilders per year on average. In our analysis we compare the costs and benefits of the current SW with the costs and benefits of a hypothetical situation in which there isn't such a social program. The benefit-cost analysis shows that the net costs are much lower, 6.600,- in stead of 44.000 guilders. This result follows the fact that every non-working dis abled has the right to receive benefits. By the existence of the social program the govern ment saves these expenses. Besides, every SW employee pays tax to the government. These taxes are viewed as proceeds in the benefit- cost analysis. In sum, the hypothetical situ ation will still cost 85% of the current costs. Worth mentioning is the fact that some varia bles relevant to such a benefit-cost analysis re mains unmeasurable. This is true in particular for the cost related to psychological well-being, physical and mental health and the effects on children due to growing up in a family in which one of the parent is disabled.
