The Dependency Structure of Bad Jobs: How Market Constraint Undermines Job Quality

ILR Review ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 001979392093625
Author(s):  
Richard A. Benton ◽  
Ki-Jung Kim
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Industry Structure ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Bargaining Theory ◽  
Economic Exchange ◽  
Dependency Theory ◽  
Economic Surplus ◽  
Dependency Structure ◽  
Power And Dependence ◽  
Exchange Patterns

Power and dependence in economic exchange shape industry structure. When a focal industry faces powerful suppliers or buyers, this can reduce industry rents. The authors argue that these dynamics also affect job quality by reducing the economic surplus available to be shared with workers. Drawing on ideas from power-dependency theory, this article explains industry earnings and job quality differences by examining inter-industry exchange patterns. The authors build on Ronald Burt’s seminal analysis of structural constraint in economic exchange using industry input-output tables. They calculate market constraint measures for recent years in the United States and link these with CPS data on wages and benefits. Analyses reveal that workers in more buyer-constrained industries (dependence on powerful buyers) experience lower wages and benefits. Findings also show that market constraint reduces the economic surplus available for union bargaining. Theory and results suggest that market concentration reduces suppliers’ economic rents, harming job quality.

Global Trends in the Political Economy of Smart Grids

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cherrelle Eid ◽  
Rudi Hakvoort ◽  
Martin de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Smart Grid ◽  
Smart Grids ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industry Structure ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Regulatory Models ◽  
Global Transition

The global transition towards sustainable, secure, and affordable electricity supply is driving changes in the consumption, production, and transportation of electricity. This chapter provides an overview of three main causes of political–economic tensions with smart grids in the United States, Europe, and China, namely industry structure, regulatory models, and the impact of energy policy. In all cases, the developments are motivated by the possible improvements in reliability and affordability yielded by smart grids, while sustainability of the electricity sector is not a central motivation. A holistic smart grid vision would open up possibilities for better integration of distributed energy resources. The authors recommend that smart grid investments should remain outside of the regulatory framework for utilities and distribution service operators in order to allow for such developments.

114 What Is the Impact of Dairy Influence Cattle on the Traditional Beef Industry Structure?

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Bradley J Johnson ◽  
Luke Fuerniss
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Dairy Herd ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Industry Structure ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Feed Conversion ◽  
Beef Industry ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The U.S. cow inventory includes approximately 31 million beef cows and 9 million dairy cows, so flow of cattle from dairies into beef production influences the traditional beef industry structure. Dairy-influenced cattle have historically entered the beef supply chain as cull cows and calf-fed Holstein steers. Culled dairy cows account for approximately half of the cows harvested in the United States annually. Fed steers and heifers of dairy influence are estimated to account for 15% of annual steer and heifer slaughter. Advancements in data availability, genomics, and reproductive technologies have enabled more precise selection of dairy replacement heifers and more pregnancies to be allocated to a terminal sire. Recently, the use of beef semen to breed dairy cows that are not desirable for producing replacement heifers has become more widespread. Beef-on-dairy calves are often moved to calf ranches shortly after birth where they are weaned and grown before transitioning to traditional grow yards or feedlots. In comparison to traditional range beef production, calves of dairy origin are weaned at a younger age, have more restricted mobility early in life, and are fed a delivered ration for a greater number of days. While carcasses of dairy-originated fed cattle excel in subcutaneous leanness and marbling, calves originating from dairies typically experience greater morbidity, poorer feed conversion, and poorer dressed yields compared to native fed cattle. Future opportunities to optimize beef production from the dairy herd include refining sire selection to consistently produce high quality calves, reducing variation in calfhood management, and identifying optimal nutrition and growth technology programs for calves from dairies.

scholarly journals Measuring the availability of “good jobs” in the United States for working-class men during the Great Recession and recovery

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette Dill ◽  
Robert Francis
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Food Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Full Time ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Predicted Probability ◽  
Time Work ◽  
The Impact

In this study, we use the 2004, 2008, and 2014 panels of the Survey for Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to measure the impact of the Great Recession and recovery on the availability of “good jobs” for men without a college degree. We define “good jobs” using a cluster of job quality measures, including wage thresholds of at least $15, $20, or $25 per hour, employer-based health insurance, full-time work hours, and protection from layoff. We find that the Great Recession and aftermath (2008-2015) resulted in a 1-10% reduced probability of being in a “good job” across most industries, with especially large losses in manufacturing, retail, transportation, and food service (compared to 2004-2007). In the 2014 panel, there is only a slight post-recession recovery in the predicted probability of being in a “good job,” and the probability of being in a “good job” remains well below 2004 levels. Although the probability of being on layoff from a “good jobs” does decrease substantially in the 2014 cohort as compared to the rate of layoff during the Great Recession, our clustered measure of job quality shows that access to “good jobs” remains limited for most working-class men and that the recovery from the Recession has largely not reached the working-class.

scholarly journals Worker Power and Class Polarization in Intra-Year Work Hour Volatility

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe LaBriola ◽  
Daniel Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Bargaining Power ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Union Coverage ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
Nationally Representative

Precarious work, which has become more prevalent in the United States in recent decades, is disproportionately experienced by workers of lower socio-economic classes, and research suggests that the erosion of worker power has contributed to this class polarization in precarity. One dimension of precarious work of growing interest to scholars and policymakers is instability faced by workers in the amount and regularity of their work hours. However, we know little about the magnitude of month-to-month or week-to-week (intra-year) volatility in hours worked, the extent of class-based polarization in this measure of job quality, and whether worker power moderates this polarization. In this paper, we make novel use of the panel nature of the nationally-representative Current Population Survey (CPS) to estimate intra-year volatility in the actual hours respondents report working in the previous week across four consecutive survey months. Using this new measure, we then show that, net of demographic characteristics and controls for occupation and industry, low-wage workers experience disproportionately greater work hour volatility. Finally, we find evidence that reductions in marketplace bargaining power--as measured by higher state-level unemployment rates--increase wage- and education-based polarization in work hour volatility, while increases in associational power--as measured by union coverage--reduce wage-based polarization in work hour volatility.

How good is half a job? Part-time employment and job quality in the US

2019 ◽  
pp. 187-216
Author(s):  
Kenneth Hudson ◽  
Arne L. Kalleberg
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Retirement Benefits ◽  
Poverty Threshold ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Time Part

In January 2018, about 17 percent of the workforce in the United States had a part-time job. Part-time employment increased between 1955 and the 1980s as large numbers of women entered the workforce. Since then it has fluctuated in response to rising and falling unemployment. The majority of part-time workers are between 24 and 60 and about two-thirds are women, who often divide their time between work and family. Like other forms of nonstandard work, part-time workers are more likely to have bad jobs, and they are more apt to live in families that are poor, even when controlling for a multitude of labor related variables. Although some part-time jobs offer health and retirement benefits and wages above the poverty threshold, most do not. Only a small share of part-time jobs-between 16 and 17 percent-are located in the primary labor market. When compared to whites, we find that blacks, Hispanic non-citizens, and persons of mixed-race descent are more likely to work part-time. Part-time workers in these groups are also more likely to have jobs in the secondary labor market. Finally, we find that as percentage of part-time workers in occupations increases, the negative effect on job quality associated with the percentage of women in an occupation is greatly reduced or disappear

What Explains Racial/Ethnic Inequality in Job Quality in the Service Sector?

2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Storer ◽  
Daniel Schneider ◽  
Kristen Harknett
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
Food Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Ethnic Inequality ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Precarious work in the United States is defined by economic and temporal dimensions. A large literature documents the extent of low wages and limited fringe benefits, but research has only recently examined the prevalence and consequences of unstable and unpredictable work schedules. Yet practices such as on-call shifts, last minute cancellations, and insufficient work hours are common in the retail and food-service sectors. Little research has examined racial/ethnic inequality in this temporal dimension of job quality, yet precarious scheduling practices may be a significant, if mostly hidden, site for racial/ethnic inequality, because scheduling practices differ significantly between firms and because front-line managers have substantial discretion in scheduling. We draw on innovative matched employer-employee data from The Shift Project to estimate racial/ethnic gaps in these temporal dimensions of job quality and to examine the contribution of firm-level sorting and intra-organizational dynamics to these gaps. We find significant racial/ethnic gaps in exposure to precarious scheduling that disadvantage non-white workers. We provide novel evidence that both firm segregation and racial discordance between workers and managers play significant roles in explaining racial/ethnic gaps in job quality. Notably, we find that racial/ethnic gaps are larger for women than for men.

Exporting Forest Loss? A Cross-National Analysis of the United States Export–Import Bank Financing in Low- and Middle-Income Nations

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-269
Author(s):  
Michael Restivo ◽  
John M. Shandra ◽  
Jamie M. Sommer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Income ◽  
Forest Loss ◽  
Dependency Theory ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Forestry Sector ◽  
States Export ◽  
Cross National ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Dependency theory argues that due to unequal economic relationships, including exports, multinational corporations, and loans from multilateral lending institutions, high-income nations exploit the labor and resources of low- and middle-income nations. We extend this line of reasoning to the United States Export–Import Bank, as it has recently come under scrutiny for its lending in the forestry sector of low- and middle-income nations. Although this concern has been raised, we are not aware of any cross-national research that empirically evaluates if their investments adversely impact forests. Therefore, we examine the impact of the United States Export–Import Bank lending in the forestry sector on forest loss. Using a two-stage instrumental variable regression model to account for possible donor selection bias as well as ordinary least squares regression to analyze data for 78 low- and middle-income nations, we find that export credit agency financing is related to increased forest loss from 2001 to 2014. Our findings are consistent with dependency theory ideas that economic linkages with high-income nations increase forest loss in low- and middle-income nations.

scholarly journals Worker Power and Class Polarization in Intra-Year Work Hour Volatility

Social Forces ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 973-999
Author(s):  
Joe LaBriola ◽  
Daniel Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Bargaining Power ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Union Coverage ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
Nationally Representative

Abstract Precarious work, which has become more prevalent in the United States in recent decades, is disproportionately experienced by workers of lower socio-economic classes, and research suggests that the erosion of worker power has contributed to this class polarization in precarity. One dimension of precarious work of growing interest to scholars and policymakers is instability faced by workers in the amount and regularity of their work hours. However, we know little about the magnitude of month-to-month or week-to-week (intra-year) volatility in hours worked, the extent of class-based polarization in this measure of job quality, and whether worker power moderates this polarization. In this paper, we make novel use of the panel nature of the nationally-representative Current Population Survey (CPS) to estimate intra-year volatility in the actual hours respondents report working in the previous week across four consecutive survey months. Using this new measure, we then show that, net of demographic characteristics and controls for occupation and industry, low-wage workers experience disproportionately greater work hour volatility. Finally, we find evidence that reductions in marketplace bargaining power—as measured by higher state-level unemployment rates—increase wage- and education-based polarization in work hour volatility, while increases in associational power—as measured by union coverage—reduce wage-based polarization in work hour volatility.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document